Description

We spend our whole lives chasing happiness, but we rarely stop to ask: Are we chasing the right things? Or more importantly - do we even have control over how happy we are?

Research suggests that while a portion of our happiness is genetic, a significant amount is firmly within our control - if we know which levers to pull. 

In this episode, we dive into the science of building a happier life. We look at why our brains are notoriously bad at predicting the future (affective forecasting) and how to stop stumbling into happiness and start designing it.

In this episode, we cover:

• The 50% Rule: Is happiness genetic, or is it a choice?
• The Prediction Trap: Why we are bad at guessing what will make us happy (Affective Forecasting).
• Hedonic vs. Eudaimonic: The difference between "feeling good" and "deeper meaning"
• The PERMA+ Model: The scientific "ingredients" list for a good life.
• Surrogation: A strategy for making better major life decisions.
• The Toolkit: How to use Positive Psychology to move the needle on your satisfaction (as the first part of an upcoming series) 

Reference: The "Happiness Pie Chart" discussed in this episode is based on the work of Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ken Sheldon, and David Schkade

Other resources mentioned: 📕 

• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert 
• Character strengths: https://www.viacharacter.org/
• Affective forecasting by Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert
• Does more money make us happier? NOTE upon looking at this closer, I saw they went into some additional nuances not covered in the video - worth a read if you are curious https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/does-more-money-correlate-greater-happiness-Penn-Princeton-research
• On the long-running happiness study: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/
• Some more on Perma: https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/learn-more/perma-theory-well-being-and-perma-workshops
• Some more basics on positive psychology: as referenced from Peterson 2008 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-psychology-and-what-is-it-not and  https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-positive-psychology-definition/
• My positive psychology professor from university: https://www.drryanduffy.com/ 

Timestamps: 
00:00 Intro: Stumbling on happiness 
02:28 How is happiness actually defined? 
04:17 How controllable is happiness? 
07:24 Affective Forecasting: Your mind lies to you 
09:16 PERMA+: The ingredients of the good life 
15:35 "Surrogation": A tool for better decision making 
18:21 The field of Positive Psychology & Footnotes

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