A Big Hairy Audacious Goal: Contentment

You may be familiar with the idea that happiness is a temporary emotion—something that isn’t maintainable over long periods of time. But if we can’t work toward happiness, what can we work toward? Balance and contentment.

Here are three ways to create more balance in your personal and work environments, leading to more contentment in life.

Identify Your “Essentials”

In Chapter 5 of the World Happiness Report 2022 , the following characteristics were deemed as predictors that significantly increase the likelihood of having a sense of balance in life.

• Not having health problems
• Being older
• Being married
• Having friendship support
• Freedom
• Generosity
• Institutional trust
• Lack of negative emotions like stress and anger
• Enjoyment and laughter

The question becomes this: How can we involve more of these characteristics (those that are under our control) in our lives??

One way to look at this challenge is through the lens of a key principle in design, the minimal viable product, or MVP. That is to say, the most stripped-down, elegant, and functioning version of a product, service, or experience that you want to create. The MVP is about identifying what is essential. That notion—“What really matters?”—is transferable to designing happiness into your life.

Self-Reflect and Connect

Expert guest Professor Cassie Holmes suggested on The Happiness Lab podcast that listeners participate in a time-tracking exercise. Track the time you spend on each daily activity and make notes about when you feel positive vs. negative emotions. This will allow you to determine which activities lend to the positive emotions that create contentment.?

These are the activities that give life balance, and they don’t have to all be based within the bounds of free time. Work can also feel good, especially if it’s work that has a “why,” or work that allows you to connect with others.

Professor Cassie Holmes shared that “the activities that are associated with the most positive emotions tend to be those that involve connecting with other people.” This highlights the importance of connection at work, which is built when we have the self-awareness and confidence to show up as our whole selves in the working environment.?

Embrace Altruism and Gratitude

Deliberate altruism creates a feedback loop that increases generosity and freedom. At work, you can do this by regularly and frequently acknowledging teammates’ contributions at daily and weekly huddles. Companies that design a working climate where people feel seen, heard, and validated produce employees experiencing higher levels of satisfaction. No one wants to feel invisible. Incentivize your team to acknowledge each other—validation does not have to only be the job of the boss.

Recognizing and wholeheartedly accepting altruism is also essential. In a way, this is a form of social gratitude. Reflecting on every unexpected gesture of benevolence (someone lets you make a left turn at a busy intersection) and contact with others (you had a good laugh with office mates during lunch) makes you more aware of all that you have.?

It is also important to document the people, experiences, and things that make your life easier and bring a smile to your face. Commit to the discipline of writing down those things that you may otherwise take for granted.

Final Words

Taking the initiative to become more content and have a more balanced life is the hardest part. It’s not easy to start down this path unless you know how or where to begin. Use the action items above to start prioritizing contentment as your most audacious goal.