HAPPINESS SCIENCE SAYS WHEN YOU CAN SAY YES TO ANY OF THESE 5 QUESTIONS, YOU'LL FEEL MORE FULFILLED, SATISFIED, AND CONSIDERABLY LESS STRESSED

How you're made certainly affects how you deal with stress as well as your overall level of happiness. But considerable research shows so does what you do.

Who wants to feel happier and less stressed? Entrepreneurs, for one. A landmark study -- and a viral Inc. article -- shows significantly more small-business owners report feeling more stressed and anxious than other workers. ("If it is to be, it's up to me" is both empowering and intimidating.)

Even if you're not an entrepreneur, feelings of stress and anxiety are widespread. One out of three respondents in a study conducted by the Cleveland Clinic ranked their mental health as low. Forty-five percent said they had dealt with anxiety in the previous week. Thirty-six percent said they had experienced sadness or depression.

Those are problems without ready solutions; for example, a Journal of General Internal Medicine study found that only about a third of people recently found to have depression seek some form of treatment or support. Other studies show one in four people say they have "no idea" how to improve their level of happiness and overall emotional well-being.

Let's work on that. There are simple ways to better deal with stress and anxiety, improve your overall outlook, and increase your feelings of happiness.

But before we do, let's talk about the nature of happiness itself.

Everyone Has a Happiness Set-Point

Research shows approximately 50 percent of your level of happiness -- what psychologists call your happiness set-point -- is determined by hereditary personality traits. Think nature, not nurture.

While being unable to change a chunk of your happiness baseline sounds less than ideal, the flip side is empowering, because that means half of your subjective well-being (a term psychologists like better than "happiness") is within your control.

How you're made? It affects your happiness. But so does what you do.

Especially what you do on a regular basis.

Especially if you can say yes to one or more of the following questions.

1. "I try to stay positive, not happy."

A 2020 study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology determined most people fall into one of two basic categories:

• Some focus on being happy. Happiness is their goal: They think about happiness -- even in moments when they feel happy. When they aren't happy, they think they're failing. As a result, when faced with negative emotions they tend to struggle and rate themselves as relatively unhappy.
• Others focus on staying positive. Positivity is their goal: They look for ways to feel and stay positive. They structure their day around maximizing positives and minimizing or avoiding negatives. As a result, when (stuff) happens, they tend to see negative emotions as part of life.

Why does focusing on staying positive rather than being happy matter? A 2014 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that emodiversity -- the variety and relative abundance of the emotions that humans experience -- is a better predictor of mental and physical health.

Oddly enough, if you want to be happier, sometimes you need to feel a little sad.

And when you do feel sad, the key is to work the problem and determine how to make things better. The key is to turn feelings of stress or anxiety into action. The key is to turn "woe is me" into emotional-neutral and eventually to turn that negative into a positive, if only by finding ways to ensure that whatever happened doesn't happen again.

As the Stoics would say: You can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond. Or in this case, "I can't always be happy, but I can always try to stay positive."

Because your future is always dependent on your actions in the present.

2. "I consistently spend time outdoors."

A 2019 study published in Scientific Reports found that spending two hours per week outdoors can significantly improve overall well-being. According to the researchers:

Compared to no nature contact last week, the likelihood of reporting good health or high well-being became significantly greater. It did not matter how 120minutes was achieved (one long versus several shorter outings per week).

Why? Possibly because being outdoors is a proxy for activity. But then again, a study published in Frontiers in Psychology found psychological benefits can be gained simply from sitting passively in natural (as opposed to urban) settings.

Granted, correlation isn't necessarily causation; maybe happier people simply tend to spend more time outdoors. But then again, a Landscape and Urban Planning study found that women with breast cancer who spent two hours a week in nature experienced "restored cognitive resources depleted by the stress of their diagnoses and early treatment," and experienced lower levels of stress.

Bottom line? Spending at least a couple of hours a week outdoors helps improve your overall sense of well-being and happiness.

And it's fun.

3. "I buy a little time."

Here's a fun one. In a 2017 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers surveyed thousands of people who occasionally paid other people to perform tasks they didn't enjoy or didn't want to do.

Like housecleaning. Yard work. Errands. Things people need to do, but don't always want to do.

The result? People who were willing to spend a little money to buy a little time were happier and felt greater overall life satisfaction than people who did not.

And here's the thing: While relatively wealthy people who spent money to buy a little time were happier than relatively wealthy people who did not, people at the bottom end of the economic spectrum who spent money to buy a little time were happier than those at the bottom end of the economic spectrum who did not.

The researchers then added a twist to the study, giving participants money and a choice: buy things or buy time. Turns out buying time left people feeling happier, less stressed, and more satisfied than buying things.

In short, having more money can certainly make you happier, but what you do with the money you have matters, too.

The key to buying time is to consciously decide how you will use the time your money frees up. Buying time will make you happier only if it feels intentional and purposeful -- not because you don't have the time, but because you want to use your time differently.

Instead of cleaning your house, you might decide to spend that time with family or friends, working on a project you've been putting off, or working out--something you want to do with the time you bought.

That's when money can buy you a little happiness.

No matter how much money you make, or have.

4. "I compare myself only with myself."

Comparisons are often happiness killers.

Psychologists call the result of external comparisons relative deprivation: deciding that things other people have are things we should have, even if we don't need them -- or, before we noticed, never even thought we wanted.

For many people, relative deprivation significantly impacts their level of happiness. A 2017 study published in IZA World of Labor determined that relative deprivation helps explain why average happiness has not increased despite a dramatic rise in average income around the world.

The key to avoiding relative deprivation isn't to avoid seeing things you might want; that's impossible. (Hi, Kawasaki Ninja H2R!) The key to avoiding relative deprivation isn't to avoid meeting people whose success you might envy; that's also impossible. (Hi, sandwich sharing pal Richard!)

The key is to know what you want. Your goals. Your dreams. Your ambitions. What provides you with the greatest sense of fulfillment and happiness.

And then working to achieve, possess, or become those things.

Because where happiness habits are concerned, only two comparisons matter. The first is who you are today compared with who you were in the past. Making that comparison will remind you just how far you've come. The second is who you are today compared with who you hope to someday become.

Making that comparison will keep you focused on doing the things that make you feel more fulfilled, grateful, and happy.

5. "I think about friends more than connections."

It's easy to focus on building a professional network of partners, customers, employees, connections, etc., if only because there (hopefully) is a payoff.

But there's a bigger payoff to making real and not just professional or social media friends. Increasing your number of friends correlates to higher subjective well-being. A study published in PLOS One found doubling your number of (real) friends is, in terms of how happy you feel, like increasing your income by 50 percent.

Friendships will make you happier. Being nice to people you don't know will make you happier. Even doing partial favors for people can make you happy.

Science says so.

This post originally appeared at inc.com.

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2024-04-19T13:23:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd