I learned about a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn't one of them.

Over time I learned that there are two very different satisfactions that you can have in your life. One is the satisfaction of becoming skilled at something. It almost doesn't matter what the terrain is. There is a deep, soul-feeding resonance in mastery itself, whether in teaching, writing a complicated software program, coaching a baseball team, or marshalling a group of people to start a new business.

Courage is strength in the face of knowledge of what is to be feared or hoped. Wisdom is prudent strength.

If the conversation people think is coming is the 'death panel' conversation, that's a total failure.

In the end, people don't view their life as merely the average of all its moments-which, after all, is mostly nothing much plus some sleep. For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens. Measurements of people's minute-by-minute levels of pleasure and pain miss this fundamental aspect of human existence. A seemingly happy life maybe empty. A seemingly difficult life may be devoted to a great cause. We have purposes larger than ourselves.

Coaching done well may be the most effective intervention designed for human performance.

In one study, old people assigned to a geriatrics team stayed independent for far longer, and were admitted to the hospital less.