7 Keys to Feeling Happier in Life
Introduction
The journey towards happiness is not solely about reaching the pinnacle of success or achieving our goals. Rather, true happiness stems from finding joy in the process and embracing the journey towards our goals.
Happiness is not about stagnation or reaching a point where we no longer need to grow and evolve. Rather, it is about recognizing our potential for growth and relishing the excitement that comes with it.
Research has shown that happier individuals are more productive and have a greater likelihood of achieving their goals. However, many people falsely believe that success is the cause of happiness rather than the other way around.
This mentality can lead to prolonged periods of unhappiness and an inability to experience joy in the present moment.
Upon reaching a goal, people may experience a brief sense of euphoria, only to then strive for the next objective in order to maintain happiness. This cycle can be never-ending.
The brain produces four primary chemicals that impact our happiness: dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins.
Dopamine is released when we are driven towards a goal.
Oxytocin is released when we are socializing.
Serotonin, which is produced largely in the gut, is associated with positive moods and affected by our diets.
Finally, endorphins are linked to the fight-or-flight response and help us push through challenging situations or towards difficult goals.
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Here are 7 keys to feeling happier in life...
By feeling happier on a daily basis, you’ll in turn find that your productivity will improve AND you’ll achieve more of what you want in your life...
1. Foster a Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, identifies two primary mindsets for navigating life: growth and fixed.
Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities and intelligence are unchangeable, leading them to plateau in their pursuits as they assume they have reached their predetermined limits.
As a result, they tend to accomplish less than their potential and experience lower levels of happiness than those with a growth-oriented mindset.
In contrast, individuals with a growth mindset believe that their abilities and intelligence can improve over time, leading not only to better skill acquisition but also to enhanced learning capacity.
Consequently, those with a growth mindset often feel happier, as they recognize their potential for success is far greater than that of individuals with a fixed mindset.
The belief in their potential fosters a more optimistic worldview, as well as more favorable long-term results.
Fixed-mindset individuals tend to focus more on proving themselves, whereas those with a growth mindset prioritize taking action to achieve their desired outcomes.
A growth mindset fosters a passion for learning and personal development, inspiring individuals to stretch themselves even during difficult times.
Those with a growth mindset tend to perceive obstacles as opportunities for learning and self-improvement, further fueling their personal and professional growth.
2. Develop and Optimists View of the World
In many situations, both optimists and pessimists can be right, but in life, optimists tend to experience more happiness and achieve greater success.
Optimists also tend to experience less anxiety, depression, and stress compared to pessimists, and are more action-oriented.
Therefore, it's not just what happens to you that determines how happy you are, but how you interpret the situations that occur.
For example, when Billy and Sarah both lost their jobs at a magazine publishing company, Billy took it badly and struggled to find a new job for three months. His new job quickly became highly stressful, and he felt like bad things kept happening to him.
In contrast, Sarah was upset at first, but woke up the next morning with a new outlook. She saw losing her job as an opportunity to find a better one and decided to get picky about the jobs she applied for.
She applied for seven jobs, got interviews with two of them, and ultimately landed a higher-paying job that involved learning about magazine artwork.
Sarah's optimistic mindset helped her navigate the situation more effectively than Billy's pessimistic mindset.
The key is to always look for the silver lining in any situation and figure out how to turn challenges into opportunities. Celebrating little victories and focusing on the positives in life can also help cultivate an optimistic outlook.
If you can view your career as a calling rather than just a means to an end, you'll feel more fulfilled and successful.
Also, if you can cultivate gratitude for all the little things in your life, you'll experience more good days going forward.
3. Enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination
Life is not a sequence of fixed destinations. Rather, we spend more time on the journey towards our goals and dreams than on reaching them.
Therefore, it's crucial to derive more satisfaction and enjoyment from the process of achieving success than from the success itself.
To do so, you need to find pleasure in the journey that leads to the outcomes you desire.
For instance, if you want to win a race, it's important to find a way to enjoy the training and gain satisfaction from it. Otherwise, too much pressure is placed on the result of the race, and you may have spent a lot of time training without truly enjoying it.
Even if you don't win the race, it's crucial to appreciate the journey and effort that went into it.
You should be content that you did your best, and be proud of yourself for it. And that, in itself, is something to celebrate.
Happy people understand the value of pushing themselves, regardless of whether success comes at the end. What matters more is how much effort was invested.
If you enjoy facing challenges and putting in more effort, you're bound to achieve numerous accomplishments in life while also finding more enjoyment in the process.
4. Maintain Your Social Connections
Numerous studies have demonstrated that having social relationships is the best way to boost well-being and reduce stress. It is an effective remedy for depression and a recipe for high performance.
According to Shawn Achor, the author of "The Happiness Advantage," good social relationships are crucial for long-term happiness.
Harvard University conducted the most comprehensive study on adult development, tracking the lives of 724 men from 1938 for over 75 years. One of their significant discoveries was that good social relationships were the most critical factor in ensuring long-term happiness.
Dr. Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, says, "The lesson that came from tens of thousands of pages of that research was that good relationships keep us happier and healthier."
In addition, several other studies over the years have shown that individuals with fulfilling relationships tend to be happier and live longer. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize family and friendships by taking the time to maintain them.
Being kind to others is also important, and it is not only about "spending time" with them, although that is undoubtedly a critical factor.
You should also help those who require it, whether it is by giving your time or resources.
Shawn Achor notes in "The Happiness Advantage" that a long line of empirical research, including one study of over 2,000 people, has demonstrated that acts of altruism, such as giving to friends and strangers alike, decrease stress and significantly contribute to enhanced mental health.
5. Improve Your Nutrition
Serotonin is one of the four primary "happiness hormones," and it's estimated that up to 90% of it is produced in the gut.
Therefore, what you eat and drink plays a crucial role in your overall sense of happiness and well-being.
A small study of people with mild-to-moderate anxiety or depression found that taking probiotics for six weeks significantly improved their symptoms.
Another study found that taking probiotics (galactooligosaccharides) for three weeks significantly reduces cortisol levels in the body (a stress hormone).
One natural way to promote a healthy gut is to reduce sugar and processed food consumption while increasing the intake of whole, natural foods.
Fermented foods such as sauerkraut are excellent for your gut, and vegetables and fruit are also beneficial and help produce more of the microbes that are responsible for serotonin production.
6. Establish Systems for Success to Avoid Chaos and Frustration
Tim Ferris, the author of “The 4 Hour Work Week,” says, "I value self-discipline … but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control."
Rather than thinking that life is full of unpredictable events, it's a series of logical and complete systems that occur repeatedly.
You can create, edit and nurture these systems, both large and small, so that you can have the life you desire. This realization alone can provide a long-lasting feeling of happiness and clarity about your future.
The first step is to pay attention to the things you want and those that you don’t. Then, break them down into systems that must be in place to cause or prevent them from occurring.
This applies to every aspect of life: home, work, health, relationships, and goal achievement. For example, John's wife, Felicity, was overwhelmed with housework, as they have three kids and mess kept piling up, causing her stress. To help her, John made a system.
John created a list of chores that the kids must complete when they get home from school each day.
If they finished everything, they got an hour of free playtime before dinner. However, if they did not complete their chores, they not only lost the opportunity for free playtime but also received a lecture on their responsibilities to help out in the family and how valuable it is to their mother.
Within two weeks, the children's laundry was in the wash, their lunchboxes were out and cleaned, and their homework was completed without prompting.
If they made any snacks, they cleaned up after themselves. Felicity was elated with the improvements. The kids noticed how much more peppy their mother was, and they felt great about being more self-sufficient. It was a win-win situation for everyone.
This is an example of how a change in the system you use to live your life can make a significant impact on your future.
For instance, automatically saving 3% of your income can lead to more vacations, while keeping healthy snacks more accessible than unhealthy treats can lead to healthier eating habits.
The key is to examine the systems that shape your life and work to improve them.
7. Accept What Is … Chase Damn Hard For What ‘Could Be’
According to a study of 5,000 people, by the University of Hetfordshire, self acceptance is one of the most critical factors that affects our happiness …
...But is often the one we practice the least.
Acceptance has two parts to it…
Accepting what is, and what has happened to us.
Accepting ourselves and who we are.
The thing is, the past has already happened to us.
So it’s vitally important to cultivate that habit of accepting what has happened to us. Even if it’s unfair.
It’s important to look for any possible silver linings, to learn those lessons, and to form an exciting plan for the future.
It’s also crucial that we love ourselves as we are, and don’t place limits on ‘I’ll love myself when…’
You are already great. You are already a wonderful human being. Don’t wait till you’ve got that pay rise, or you’ve got that perfect relationship, or you’ve lost that stubborn belly fat, before you love yourself …
… Those are goals you may have, but you’ve got to accept what is, love life
as it is right now, love yourself as you are right now … AND chase damn hard
for what could be.
It’s time to get excited and happy about life as it is!
Love the challenge, love the journey you are on, and focus on cultivating these 7 habits.
They’ll lead to an overall feeling of more happiness in your life.
Final Thoughts
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