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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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The 100-Year Life summary
Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
Living and Working in an Age of Longevity
18 mins
Brief summary
'The 100-Year Life' by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott explores how we can make the most of a longer life, offering practical guidance on skills and mindsets to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
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The 100-Year Life
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Key idea 1 of 7
Medical breakthroughs, better hygiene, better sanitation and education have helped us all live longer.
Modern society is replete with examples of happy, healthy children. Yet historically, this wasn’t always the case. The jump in the world’s birth rate is a result of a dramatic rise in human life expectancy, sparked by advances in the treatment of disease common to different stages of life.
Infancy is the first stage, and here medicine has made huge strides. Not so long ago, it was common for children to die before they reached adolescence.
Thanks to improvements in vaccinations, general hygiene and other breakthroughs in medicine like the discovery of antibiotics, many deadly childhood diseases such as smallpox have been mostly eradicated.
Society at large knows more about good nutrition and proper health care, too. All these elements taken together mean children live healthier, longer lives. A child born in 1914, for example, had a one percent chance of living to 100; a child born in 2014 has a 50 percent chance of living that long.
Middle age is the second life stage, and here, many common diseases are now better understood and treated. In the second half of the twentieth century, for example, medical science was able to develop more sophisticated ways to diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Around the same time, new research pointed to ways people could further improve health, while better education got the word out. Smoking was finally seen for the killer it is, which resulted in regulations over tobacco ads and aggressive public health campaigns addressing the risks of smoking.
Today, science is examining the third life stage – old age. Breakthroughs here are certain to produce yet another increase in human life expectancy.
Old-age diseases such as Alzheimer's affect both the quality and length of a patient’s life. Diligent research into diseases like this mean that we’re seeing results, and elderly people are indeed living longer, healthier lives as well.
In 1950, for example, a 90-year-old man living in England had a 30 percent chance of dying within a year; today, that estimate is now 20 percent. Improved nutrition, advanced medical technology and better sanitation are all to thank for this extension of human life.
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Key ideas in The 100-Year Life
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What is The 100-Year Life about?
The 100-Year Life (2016) is your guide to thriving in a world in which people are living longer. These blinks explain how the working world has changed, what it means for your retirement and which adjustments you need to make to enjoy life into the triple digits.
Best quote from The 100-Year Life
The value creation is the innovation, not the manufacture.
—Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
Who should read The 100-Year Life?
- Anyone born in the 1990s or early 2000s
- Employees who feel stuck in a thankless job
- Parents worried about the future in which their children will live
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