How to Build a Life
A column about pointing yourself toward happiness
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JAN BUCHCZIK Sit With Negative Emotions. Don’t Push Them Away.
If we want a life full of deep meaning, true love, and emotional strength, it’s going to involve the risk (and often the reality) of discomfort, conflict, and loss.
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JAN BUCHCZIK The Best Way to Handle Your Decline Is to Confront It Head On
Much like contemplating death can neutralize the fear of it, it can help to acclimate yourself to the idea of losing professional skills before it happens.
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JAN BUCHCZIK 4 Rules for Identifying Your Life’s Work
What shape your professional path should take depends on how you define success.
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Jan Buchczik Why So Many People Are Unhappy in Retirement
Too often, we imagine life to be like the hero’s journey, and leave out its crucial last step: letting go.
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Jan Buchczik Two Errors Our Minds Make When Trying to Grasp the Pandemic
Disappointment and uncertainty are inevitable. But we don’t have to turn them into suffering.
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Jan Buchczik The 3 Equations for a Happy Life, Even During a Pandemic
“How to Build a Life” is a new column that aims to give you the tools you need to construct a life that feels whole and meaningful.
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Luci Gutiérrez Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think
Here’s how to make the most of it.
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John Locher / AP Fear Can Make You a Better Person
Philosophers and sages have long considered fear a tool for self-improvement—but no, cheap scares don’t count.
