Some comments were lightly edited for clarity.
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2/14/2025
MIT Club of Boston, 2 hour lecture
- Good if you like synthesized and well presented scientific studies. I thought it was great!
- Tremendous food for thought wherever you are in the process.
- Lots of information I had not considered thinking about in retirement.
- Would recommend you give it more time.
- Structured approach to thinking of retirement.
- The 10 evidence–based and personal objectives were very helpful.
- At some point (especially the physical activities) it was dense at times.
- I would like more discussion on setting personal objectives.
- Clear explanation of scientific literature on the subject. Lively presentation.
- Recommend you include an interactive component within the talk.
- I would recommend this talk for somebody who wanted to know how to stay happy retirement.
- Find a dimmer laser pointer -the bright green pointer was very distracting.
- Everyone talks about money in retirement, you did not. This is a great compliment.
There were 9 attendees.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 1
- Very helpful or very informative: 8
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes: 9
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10/4/2025
MIT Club of Boston, 2 hour talk
Designing Your Retirement, MIT Club of Boston, 10/4/2025, Youtube recording of two hour lecture edited down to 90 minutes.
- This lecture is much better than self-help books you can buy at the airport bookstore.
- Instead of floating through each day, Hayward’s lecture provides tremendous guidance, ideas we should think about, and concepts we should shoot for each day.
- A lot of the components themselves felt intuitive and that I’d heard before, though I loved the data. I expected a bit more on stage 3/4 of retirement, e.g. prototyping, identity, bridging, new purpose.
- Good content; I got confirmation of my experience. I would like to see more causality factors. Correlation is interesting, but more understanding of positive factors would be much more valuable.
- It was great to hear about your tactical plan along the way, anything like that is very helpful!
- Slide transitions are fun, but distracting.
- Great as is!
- I am 5-10 years away from retirement and found this information very important to plan for that future.
What this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 2.5
- Very helpful or very informative: 9.5
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 2
- Yes: 10
There were 17 attendees.
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9/27/2025
Cambridge Center for Adult Education talk, 2 hour lecture
- Set aside 15 minutes to create a strategic retirement plan
- Maybe talk more on how you did what you did and less on science behind it, although it was interesting
- Very much appreciated the “just say yes “recommendation
- This was a great synthesis of information
- Consider allocating more time to integrate information into personal retirement plan
- Would appreciate even more detailed anecdotes about personal activities
- I found the “just saying yes” very helpful
- Would prefer to spend more time on certain areas less on others
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 0
- Very helpful or very informative: 6
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes: 6
Comments directed to prospective attendees:
- If you want to plan your retirement from actual experience that is science based, take this class
There were 6 attendees.
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5/24/2025
MIT Club of Boston talk, 2 hour lecture
- It was an amazing talk even for a person in the early 20s
- I would have liked to of heard how to adopt strategic retirement plan when life throws curveballs
- Thank you so much!
- Would have liked to have heard more about the different techniques for hacking the brain for happiness
- Would have liked to have heard more about how journaling leads to ideas for implementing a retirement plan
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 0
- Very helpful or very informative: 4
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes: 4
There were 13 attendees but I forgot to distribute surveys.
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5/17/2025
MIT Club of Boston talk, 2 hour lecture
- I thought the point on the psychedelic use should have been backed up by more data and more context: is it for seeking pleasure versus clarifying your purpose?
- As a physician, (I would recommend you) give more details on the different types of dementia (in layman’s terms).
- Not sure I needed as many surveys to “prove” the (point under discussion).
- Some data sets need more explanation.
- Would prefer more sharing from the other participants.
- I like the (new format of) back-and-forth between the data and objectives and then your examples from your own life.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 3
- Very helpful or very informative: 6
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes: 9
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2025
Comments received from Youtube videos
- Wonderfully rich approach to life itself. Very good with details and facts and not claiming too much.
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2/22/2025
Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 2 hour lecture
- I would highly recommend this lecture. It is a good blend of strategic thinking and practical implementation. The perfect blueprint for designing your next life chapter.
- I would recommend this talk if you would like a “how to” on creating a structured retirement plan backed by evidence of science
- This talk was very worthwhile if you want to gather information about how to plan your time and life in retirement, and what habits or behaviors to cultivate.
- This (talk) was extremely, extremely helpful.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 0
- Very helpful or very informative: 4 (“!!!”)
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes: 4
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2/1/2025
MIT Club of Boston talk, 2 hour lecture Link to Youtube movie
- It was great, really exceeded my expectations.
- So many insightful and actionable things.
- I think it was fantastic
- Thanks very much for kindly and purposefully sharing.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 0
- Very helpful or very informative: 8
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes:8
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11/16/2024
MIT Club of Boston talk, 2 hour lecture
- A lot of data, but also infused with personal passion and dedication.
- Nice arc of logic.
- Content all great. I found the overly busy slide changes distracting.
- Maybe a little long.
- Your talk has inspired me to implement some changes.
- The intentional nature of the approach was very useful. Less useful was the gender focus.
- It was helpful to have your personal experience. Bring the plans to life! Volunteering as a large part of retirement was a new concept for me. Do more of these talks.
- The most interesting thing to me was the relationship between happiness and longevity/health.
- I appreciate the depth, the fact that you support the assertion with studies. I especially like knowing that I can access the info online (from the provided URLs) and get more details about the studies.
- You reinforce much that I had seen and this was very helpful. Some of the things that were helpful included “just do it,” and reach out to organize others.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 0
- Very helpful or very informative: 12
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 012
- Yes:8
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9/28/2024
Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 2 hour lecture Link to Youtube movie
- Interesting focus on data – science based.
- I am a shocked. Your drive is evident which I feel I have lost.
- Maybe spend more time with how to access lectures, plays and free and local opportunities to engage intellectually and socially
- Leave half the time for a group discussion
- Limit yourself to ~20 words per slide
- Go a little slower
- The most unexpected and interesting part for me is the relationships between income level and how happy people would be
- Maybe added a discussion/talking/workshop part
- -all very helpful in seeing the ongoing creative endeavor of finding what works
- I would have loved it to be slightly longer, since some section seemed interesting, but we moved through very quickly
- Thanks. I have found your lecture to be fascinating and helpful. I appreciate your expertise and experience.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 1
- Very helpful or very informative: 4
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 1
- Maybe: 4
- Yes:8
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9/7/2024
MIT Club of Boston, 2 hour lecture
- Less slides, more participation by attendees
- Excellent program, very thought-provoking.
- Workshop people’s own plans after the evidence-based part
- Would love to hear from others and the chance to workshop our own plans: 45 minute lecture, 20 minute discussion, 15 minute workshop back to discuss discussion and sharing
- The lecture helped explain the ups and downs of my current retirement experience
- Too much detail on scientific studies.
- Excellent talk.
- The technical summaries were very helpful.
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6/1/2024
MIT Club of Boston, 1.5 hour lecture
- Your communication skills are excellent!
- The entire talk was wonderful.
- … your capacity to select the sequence the studies and deliver key points is extraordinary. Outstanding flights.
- Structured approach that fact base.
- The experience was rewarding.
- Thank you very much for this wonderful workmanship!
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 1
- About what I expected: 0
- Very helpful or very informative: 8
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 0
- Yes: 9
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5/3/2024
Cambridge Center of Adult Education, 1.5 hour lecture
- Really enjoyed it got a lot out of it
- It was impressive and good advice for retirement.
- Could be 2 hours instead of 1.5 hours.
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7/11/2024
Cambridge Senior Center, 1 hr Link to Youtube movie
- Lots of material, most stuff was stimulating and provocative
- Thought provoking!
- It was excellent!!
- All of it interested me.
- Make it a 2 or 3 session presentation.
Was this lecture helpful or informative?
- Not so much: 0
- About what I expected: 1
- Very helpful or very informative: 3
Would you recommend this talk to some of your peers?
- No: 0
- Maybe: 1
- Yes: 3