President Abraham Lincoln understood the true value of increased longevity; he said: “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count; it’s the life in your years.” President Jimmy Carter, died a few days before 2024 ended, and regardless of how historians rate the legacy of his four years as President, all will agree that he is a symbol of “a life fully lived”. 

The Gift of Longevity

 Since the 1900s, life spans have increased substantially, with life expectancy in the United States growing from about 47 in 1900 to over 79 in 2024 (Gemini). 

Many factors contribute to this including advances in public health reducing early childhood deaths and diseases, personal health practices, including nutrition and fitness, and medical technologies. 

Another important factor is attitudes toward aging. Studies have found that individuals with positive self-perceptions of aging live longer than those with negative self-perceptions. In one study, older individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perceptions. (Becca Levy). 

To put it in perspective, many countries have life expectancies into the 80s; for instance, Monaco, Hong Kong, and Japan have life expectancies of 85-87. With life expectancy growing worldwide, researchers often set a target; the 100-year life.

Staying Productive

Retirement was invented in the 1880s by the King of Prussia to reward his soldiers for having dedicated their lives to expanding the empire. Other countries followed suit, rewarding people for working their whole lives (often in laborious, hard jobs) and offered a pension to those who stopped work and needed some income to support them. In the US, Social Security was introduced in 1935, when life expectancy was about 60, with the expectation that retirees could use the money during “a few golden years” to enjoy life after working at one or more jobs/careers at age 65.

Since then, the period of life after working-for-income-till-65 has lengthened, with people potentially having 35 more years in which to lead productive lives. If financial resources for survival aren’t required, people can engage in activities which channel expertise and energy into passion, purpose and/or income producing activities. 

While many people still divide life into the pre-and post-retirement years, it’s no longer helpful. Age Brilliantly advocates looking at the 100 years of developmental life as an opportunity to fill them with healthy, productive activities now and in the future. Indeed, if we live 100 years, we will usually bridge two centuries; we are born in the world of grandparents and parents, and live into the world of our children and grandchildren. That means technologies, demographics, nation-states, etc. will change. To adapt we need to understand what Heraclitus said: “The only constant in life is change”.  So what might have been a good solution at one time, might not be in the future.

With 50-80 adult years of living productive, you can continue learning to support 10 careers/jobs as well as personal life-long interests. Simply nurture your 8 Life Essentials to increase your opportunities for mobility and success, proactively plan for your Future-Self, and evaluate what works and what doesn’t so you adjust your strategies again and again. The goal is to have minimum regrets – because you were willing to take the initiative. Remember, FAIL is an acronym for First Attempt In Learning!

Indeed, it introduced the concept of OppAge to help people focus on the opportunities ahead of them. Subtract your current age from the target 100 years, and fill that time productively. A newborn who might live to 100 has an OppAge of 100.  Someone with a chronological age of 63, has an OppAge 37 years:  13,000 more days of life to do what will make life fulfilling. 

The challenge is to either look in your rear-view mirror at the life you had or to focus on the you in front of you. To help people, Age Brilliantly shares stories of 100 trailblazers, who’ve understood this process already and made sure they stayed true to their values of passion and purpose regardless of age. People like Iris Apfel, Henry Kissinger, Charlie Munger, Norman Lear, etc. who lived into their 90 and 100s. 

Jimmy Carter: Living a 100 Full Life.

Jimmy Carter was elected as President in 1976 and served one-term (4 year. He had major successes (e.g., brokering the Camp David accords: peace between Egypt and Israel) and failures (e.g., high inflation and having 52 Americans captured by Iran and held hostage for444 days until he left office). His political legacy as president is still being determined. But analyzing the entire range of adult activities during his 100-year life, it’s clear that he was committed to leading a life of passion and purpose.

Born in Plains Georgia in 2024, he grew up in a modest, rural setting without modern conveniences like running water or electricity. In many ways he grew up in a 19^th century home. He died in the 21^st century when leaders are focused on harnessing the power of AI, medical technologies saving and extending life, and the ability to visit the stars. He was born in a world using horse-and buggies, and died in a world increasingly where robots operate driver electrical vehicles and AI is going to change the nature of work and for workers and the workplace. His life is dedicated to using scientific principles to solve problems at all levels of society in order to elevate people’s quality of life.

Graduating from the U.S, Naval Academy in 1946, he chose to serve in the Navy’s submarine force; he actually worked on a nuclear submarine. In 1953 after his father died, he returned to Plains to take over his father’s peanut business. With innovative farming technology and astute business practices, he turned the farm into a successful enterprise.

In 1962 he began his political career as a Georgia state Senator, and then its governor, advocating civil rights and government reform. Following the Watergate scandal and President Nixon’s resignation, he decided to restore trust to the government and ran for President in 1976 and won. His commitment to promoting peace led to tackling the Israeli-Arab war-zone; his commitment to government reform led to the creation of the Departments of Energy and Education. 

Post-presidency, he decided not to retire and retreat to his home to immerse himself only in his personal passion interests (e.g., attending to family, teaching Sunday School and publishing 32 books). Instead, he understood his value system and set a Future-Self life path in which he could continuously engage in a life full of activities in which he could make a difference in people’s lives, and the presidential years was just one part of it. Historians have already concluded that his post-presidency years, compared to other presidents, were the most impactful. 

Harvard’s incredibly 80+ year continuing longitudinal study on life fulfillment (see Robert Waldinger’s The Good Life) reports that the single biggest factor promoting healthy and long lives is having a supportive quality relationship. (One of the early subjects in the study was the (future) resident John F Kennedy.)  President Carter understood that value and throughout the 77 of marriage to Rosalynn, the two operated as true partners. 

It became evident almost immediately that the President and his wife were going to continue promoting human rights and democracy, and global health. In 1982, they jointly founded the Carter Center In 1982 The Center played a pivotal role in nearly eradicating the Guinea worm disease; the incidence has dropped from millions to a handful and may be totally eradicated. In 2002, Carter was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in advancing democracy and human rights through the Carter Center

Since 1984, they have donated one week of time each month and his building skills to Habitat for Humanities. It was a small company started in 1976.  When it started it was a small company. They created the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project which each year launches a major volunteer building event that attracts thousands of volunteers in the USA and in other countries in need of housing. The Carters have worked “alongside 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,390 homes”.  

Trailblazers Set standards; It’s Up to Us to Achieve Them

Abraham Maslow is known for his theory of the hierarchy of five needs. The highest level of the popular hierarchy is Self-Actualization, which is the process of realizing one’s full potential and becoming the best version of oneself. Before he died, he actually revised the framework adding a sixth, higher level to the top: Transcendence. This is the process where individuals strive for a sense of purpose and connection beyond themselves, seeking meaning and value in something larger than their individual existence. 

CBS News titled it’s tribute to president Carter “Jimmy Carter Set the Standard for the Modern Post-Presidency”. True. He left the presidency at the age of 56 chronological years and at 44 opportunity years. Not all presidents will have that much time to do so much. But as Lincoln noted, it’s not the number of years but the life (or quality) of your efforts during those years.

From an Age Brilliantly perspective, President Carter set at least one additional standard: How to lead a fulfilling 100-year life. Throughout his life, nurtured all of the 8 Life Essentials: Health finance, relationships, careers, passion, purpose learning and time mastery. That enabled him to take on so many roles, careers, projects, etc. different roles, careers, so he could accomplish things in his own right, and inspire and influence other people to participate in his projects as well. That’s the true legacy of a trailblazer, showing people what can be done and inspiring them to take the actions themselves.  

He set a second standard: achieving the sixth level of needs in Abraham Maslow’s revised Hierarchy of needs. In the original model, Self-Actualization is the highest need; it’s realizing one’s full potential and becoming the best version of oneself. Before he died, Maslow revised the framework to add Transcendence to the top. This is the process where individuals strive for a sense of purpose and connection beyond themselves, seeking meaning and value in something larger than their individual existence. It’s clear that Jimmy Carter achieved Transcendence.

One last standard Jimmy Carter demonstrated throughout his life. He valued time and kept busy with all of his activities throughout life, balancing time with the family, Sunday school, Carter Center, Habitat for Humanities and lots of other activities. At his 100^th birthday celebration, he said he was pleased with the life he had. Young and middle-aged Jimmy Carter focused on the goal of making a difference in the world that his future-self would appreciate. And he did!  May we all learn from his example.