Entertainment | 09/28/2009 6:00 am

Take Marcus Buckingham's Strong Life Test and Determine Your Happiness Quotient

Are women sadder and more stressed than ever? Here’s how to find the life role you were born to play …

Marcus Buckingham

Maureen Dowd’s Sunday New York Times column talks about Marcus Buckingham’s new book and the dreary point it illustrates: As women get older, they get sadder (whereas men get happier as they age). Is this true? Marcus — who, incidentally, offers the antidote in his book — found several highly credible and large studies that arrived at the same conclusion! As expected, Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently has already ignited a national discussion — and Marcus has invited the wise and witty women at wowOwow to join the conversation.

Marcus will be visiting the website in the next couple of weeks to talk about the controversial studies he mentions in his book — as well as share tips on how to achieve a happy, fulfilled life. To kick this off, we’re encouraging all wOwers (even the most content) to take Marcus’s Strong Life Test here, which is the first time it has been offered online. At the end of the test, it’ll identify your Lead Role — which serves as a compass to guide you toward life’s difficult decisions.

Click "Start" to take the test here:

After you take the test, tell us: What was the role you were born to play? Are you acting on it?

Read more about: Advice, Books, Find Your Strongest Life, Life, Marcus Buckingham, Quiz

113 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

My results show my role to be a Creator with a secondary as a Teacher. This is right on since my educational background includes curriculum design and instruction.

By Patti Schmitt on 09/25/2009 4:17 pm

e-mail alert

My role is a Teacher and secondary is an advisor. Very interesting since I work in the school system as a Speech-Language Pathologist and teachers & parents often come to me for advice.

By Lorelee Intenzo on 09/25/2009 4:32 pm

e-mail alert

My lead role was Creator, and supporting role Equalizer. It’s just weird because about an hour ago I was telling my co-worker that I need to start "jumping off the cliff without a safety net" more often because I can overthink every decision of my life to the point of never doing anything. Well, listed as a "Don’t" under Creator, was "think about things so much that you do nothing." Maybe that’s something I should think about!

By Gianna Bracco on 09/25/2009 4:58 pm

e-mail alert

My lead role was My innate sense for what is right. As a retired Bank Officer, I was amazed that yes to be in banking it is essentail to do what is right. My supporting role was to Always find time to be by myself. That also proves to be true. As a supervisor, I found it necessary to spend some lunch hours off by myself to recoup from the morning.

By Sandra Weiler on 09/25/2009 6:14 pm

e-mail alert

I was listed as a motivator/caretaker. The sadder as we get older concept has hit home with me. Overall I am a happy person but getting older also makes you think of your existence on this earth. What am I leaving behind, questions come up about health will I be the one that lives to a ripe old age or will I be overtaken by an illness. Our lives are finite and as we age we become closer to the end. These thoughts don’t fill my every waking moments but they now come up where as when I was in my 20s it was never in my thoughts.

So Sadder as we get older, I can see it I try to stay on top of it but I do understand it.

By Annette Widmeyer on 09/25/2009 6:52 pm

e-mail alert

I am a "Creator". This is probably why I’m so frustrated at my current job. I don’t get to do anything that was listed and it all sounds wonderful.

By Corey Harju on 09/25/2009 7:07 pm

e-mail alert

I took this, but didn’t find it age relevant, so the questions/answers bypassed me, and I found I was more or less making up what I might do in the given situations. My generation didn’t work or have careers, so this was foreign to me. My given inexperienced answers seemed hollow as I answered in what I felt was the correct response, but what I might not ever do in reality.

By Lizzie R. on 09/25/2009 7:41 pm

e-mail alert

I agree with you Lizzie from a different point of view. I worked my entire life and never had children, so I had to guess what I would have done in the "parent/child" scenario. I imagine in terms of children, you never know what you will actually do until in the situation.

By Suzanne Frazier on 09/30/2009 9:30 am

e-mail alert

My role was advisor and guess what…. I’m woman abuse/trauma worker. That was fun. Thanks!

By Eve Fulton on 09/25/2009 7:51 pm

e-mail alert

Equalizer and Motivator were my results from this tests/

I do not really put any faith in tests like this—especially for us women-we have too many layers to be figured out that quickly.

Plus the test comes from a Man—hello????? I don’t think any of them really understand us—even though some try hard.

By Lynn Marie on 09/25/2009 8:15 pm

e-mail alert

My role was "Teacher." I was involved in adult education (continuous learning) for 27 years and enjoyed it very much.

By Carolyn Carter-Howard on 09/25/2009 10:31 pm

e-mail alert

I took the test as a bit of fun, and found, that by Marcus Buckingham’s findings I am a Teacher/Weaver. I have no quarrel with his conclusions, in fact, they made me smile - fun won out.

By Patricia Sprofera on 09/25/2009 11:18 pm

e-mail alert

I’m apparently an equalizer, and actually that seems to have been my role in life, especially with family. Four children, all good people, can’t ask for much more. My short career as a communications supervisor also required the role of equalizer. Glad to be retired, grateful for all the experience.

By Patricia A. Anderson on 09/25/2009 11:32 pm

e-mail alert

Creator and teacher. I found it interesting but I felt I could have given more than one answer on most of the questions. I guess since I chose the ones I did, sometimes by a process if elimination, I ended up with those results.

By Frannie Em on 09/25/2009 11:45 pm

e-mail alert

why is this a male-generated "quiz" lok for women social scientists, sociologists…whatever. look for a woman to post on a supposedly woman’s site. i mean come on! and why do you assume all women that visit have children, spouses, partners? can you just direct these at women, unattached, women at their core, women.

By alicia kuttner on 09/26/2009 12:18 am