December 2023
Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFP®, AFC®
Distinguished Professor and Extension Financial Management Specialist Emeritus
Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Success at work (e.g., earning a higher salary that can be invested to build wealth) and in life (e.g., being loved and/or respected by others) is often attributed to positivity (i.e., seeing a glass as "half full" instead of "half empty") and productivity (i.e., what people accomplish alone or working with others).
Looking for ways to do more and feel better about your lifestyle at home, at work, and/or in retirement? Consider the following eight happiness and productivity hacks shared on a recent webinar by Utah State University professor, Dr. Dave Schramm.
Identify and Use Your Strengths- Start by making a list of things that you are good at. This can include job-related skills (e.g., public speaking and technical writing), technology skills (e.g., computer maintenance and social media outreach), and social skills (e.g., raising children and mentoring co-workers). For additional insights, consider using tools such as the CliftonStrengths® assessment by Gallup and the VIA Survey of Character Strengths. Both will provide useful feedback to help you understand your best qualities.
Live True to Your Core Values- Identify attributes of the person you want to be and what you would like people to say about you after you pass away. Examples include compassion, courage, determination, empathy, generosity, hard worker, honesty, humility, integrity, kindness, loyalty, and trustworthy. Various online value clarification activities such as this tool from Therapist Aid can help you prioritize your most important values.
Take Care of Your Health- Healthy people are often happy people and unhealthy people, not so much. The "Big Three" areas of physical health to pay particular attention to on a daily basis are diet (eat more nutritious food and stop eating C.R.A.P.: Carbonated drinks, Refined sugars, Artificial foods, and Processed foods), physical activity (move more; at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week is recommended), and sleep (typically at least seven hours per night).
Find Flow- Flow can be described as a joyful state that results from voluntarily doing something that is enjoyable, even mildly challenging, that you are totally absorbed in. When people are totally engrossed in an activity to the extent that they reach a flow state, they often lose track of time and report an intense and focused concentration on an activity and a sense of personal control that triggers feelings of happiness.
Gratitude- Research studies have found that gratitude fosters an overall sense of happiness and well-being and helps people recover from loss or trauma. Some "go-to" gratitude hacks include writing down three good things that happen each day, making a "top 10" list of people, places, experiences, and things (that you are grateful for), and writing a letter (or making a visit) to thank someone for something that they did on your behalf.
RAKs- Random acts of kindness (RAKs) are another happiness booster. A leading researcher in positive psychology noted "doing a kind act produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we tested." RAKs can be simple: holding a door open for someone or buying a stranger a cup of coffee.
Smile Early and Often- Workplace teams, community or professional associations, and neighborhoods work better with happy and friendly people and nothing conveys happiness better than a smile. The 10:5 rule for smiling is as follows: when you are within 10 feet of someone, smile and make eye contact. When you are within 5 feet of someone, greet them with a friendly hello or other welcoming greeting.
Focus on the Right Things- Our time and attention are best spent on things in life that both really matter and that we can control. The best way to identify high priority activities is to draw a Venn Diagram with two overlapping circles: one that says "Things That Matter" and the other that says "Things I Can Control." List items associated with each circle and then identify those in the overlap area. For example, people cannot control the direction of the stock market, but if financial security in later life matters a lot to them and they can control their spending, they can focus on freeing up money to make regular retirement plan savings deposits.