HOW TO THRIVE IN WORK AS WE LIVE LONGER

Why a 100-year life demands new ways of working, living and sustaining energy

- BY LYNDA GRATTON | Special to Gulf News

Many of us will live to 100. And most of us will need to work well into our 70s — perhaps even beyond.

Ten years ago, when Professor Andrew J Scott and I were writing The 100-Year Life, we began with a simple question: 'What happens when this becomes normal?'

What we saw was that in the face of longer working lives, the traditional three-stage life — fulltime education, fulltime work, fulltime retirement — was beginning to break down. In its place, a more complex, multistage life was emerging, with more transitions, more reinvention, and more choice.

Among people in their 30s, there is a growing awareness that working lives may stretch into their 70s — perhaps even their 80s. They are beginning to understand that this will not be a single, linear career, but a multistage life, with transitions, reinvention and change along the way.