Here’s one more followup on New York Times columnist David Brooks’s project to collect stories from folks older than 70, a series he’s calling “The Life Report” …

Brooks has synthesized the lessons offered by the life stories/essays he received:

• Divide your life into chapters.
• Beware rumination.
• You can’t control other people.
• Lean toward risk.
• Measure people by their growth rate, not by their talents.
• Be aware of the generational bias.
• Work within institutions or crafts, not outside them.
• People get better at the art of living.

You can read Brooks’s full elaboration on these lessons here.