The Hedonic Happiness Scale And You

In a massively important study about what makes people happy, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ken Sheldon, and David Schkade proposed a formula for happiness after extensive research on twins.

They found that genetically, people have a natural temperament that leaves them at a certain “set point” of happiness. This they believe accounts for 50% of a person’s level of happiness.

Next they looked at circumstances surrounding a person’s life, including “income, family dynamics, health, and the place you live-all of which can be changed, but usually not very easily or quickly.” They found circumstances accounted for 10% of someone’s level of happiness. That left a massive forty percent to still be accounted for.

The researchers found that daily “intentional activities” accounted for the remaining 40% of a person’s happiness. These activities can drastically raise one’s natural set point.

The challenge for many people as Bruce Wilkinson points out is that the evidence shows only about 5% of people have a vision for what they are to do with their life. The other 95% had their vision criticized and so they gave it up. Having a vision for how things could be is the second step of leadership.

People often say that money does not buy happiness, but is this true? The reality is that research has shown that having an excess of more money than is needed to pay for a descent standard of living does not bring more happiness. Studies have shown that once basic needs are taken care of any more money a person has above that needed income really does not impact their level of joy.

Lest we sound too flippant, the honest truth is that being broke can be incredibly stressful. In fact, in 95% of divorces couples cited arguments about money as the number one reason for their conflict. However, overall it is not income but experiences that bring the most passion to life.

The first step of leadership is seeing things as they are but not worse than they are. The second step of leadership is to see things how they could be, to have a vision for what is possible.

It is important to be honest in your own assessment of where you are in areas of happiness and goals and relationships and finances. You have a happiness set point, but half of your level of fulfillment comes from your intentional thoughts and actions.

But you can’t go to where you need to be without first knowing where you are. Rate where you are in the major areas of life on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being perfect. Now where do you want to go in these areas? Take back your vision even if you gave it up because someone criticized it.