Design the Long Life You Love

Thinking about a long life is very exciting indeed. It’s also a new phenomenon. Fifty years ago, living into one’s seventies was considered the mark of a long life. Today, seventy feels young, eighty feels normal, and ninety is within reach. Birsel believes this new horizon of life is as important and exciting as the invention of moving pictures. Or that of automobiles, or even space travel. Her point is, when a change this big happens, innovation follows.

This book is for everyone who is interested in defining their long life, using design thinking tools. It’s an interactive book with exercises that will help you think creatively by asking you to visualize your life. It is full of insights  learned from wise people who have lived the longest. It is organized into the four themes of Love, Purpose, Well-Being, and Friendship, and contains insights that will help you love better, find purpose, practice well-being, and make friends.

• People casually use this term; this changed my life. In reality, they're usually exaggerating, or it's hyperbole. I can say for Ayse Birsel and her program, it did change my life in a huge way.
  Marshall Goldmisth, New York Times best selling author of The Earned Life and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
• This is a most unusual book both in its message and design. The message? Take charge of your life to ensure happiness and contentment, for all ages and lifestyles. The design? Big and bold to match the message, easy to read big letters to compensate for all that tiny unreadable lettering on medicine and instructions where some company wants to save some money on paper. A thoughtful, powerful book in both message and design.
  Don Norman, author of Design of Everyday Things
• Design the Long Life You Love makes visible a profound revelation—across our lives, what we want, what brings meaning and joy, remains fundamentally the same. HOW we experience these truths—Friendship, Love, Purpose, and Wellbeing—changes! The tools in this book allow all of us to make these truths visible in our own lives. Take a moment and be your own “Designer for a Day,” a week, a month, a lifetime.
  Bruce Chernof, former President and CEO, The SCAN Foundation
• If you want to create the long game for your life, read this book. Ayse Birsel turns her research on aging into essential life lessons we can all use, at any age.
  Dorie Clark, Wall Street Journal best selling author of The Long Game
• You'll likely have a long life. Don't leave making it a good life up to chance.
  Michael Bungay Stanier, best selling author of The Coaching Habit and How to Begin