David Brooks

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We have an opportunity to tell millions about the benefits of encore careers, but we need your help.

David Brooks, a columnist at The New York Times, recently asked folks over 70 to send him “a gift.”

Here’s what he wrote:

I’d like you to write a brief report on your life so far, an evaluation of what you did well, of what you did not so well and what you learned along the way. You can write this as a brief essay or divide your life into categories – career, family, faith, community and self-knowledge – and give yourself a grade in each area.

Why does he want these reports? Two reasons, he says:

First, we have few formal moments of self-appraisal in our culture. Occasionally, on a big birthday people will take a step back and try to form a complete picture of their lives, but we have no regular rite of passage prompting them to do so.

More important, these essays will be useful to the young. Young people are educated in many ways, but they are given relatively little help in understanding how a life develops, how careers and families evolve, what are the common mistakes and the common blessings of modern adulthood. These essays will help them benefit from your experience.

See Brooks' column here.

Can you write and tell Brooks about your encore career – and the gifts it provides to you and to the people who benefit from your work? If you’re not yet 70, can you ask a relative or colleague who is to write?

Send your report to David Brooks at: dabrooks@nytimes.com.

Please copy us at info@encore.org. And put in the subject line: “Lessons from my encore.” We'd love to learn about your story, too.

Brooks says he’ll post the essays online and include a few in his columns around Thanksgiving. So let’s tell him what’s important in life. Hey, how often do you get a chance to do that?

Thanks for your help!