Eight secrets to making your life happier

Happier people tend to be healthier because they typically exercise more frequently, eat a balanced diet and manage stress more effectively.

1) The Happiness Mindset.

The tricky thing about happiness is that it isn't a one-size-fits-all deal. Your idea of living the good life might be quite different from someone else's.

2) The choice is yours.

Take a moment to think about where you spend the majority of your time. The answer for most people is at work or at home with their partner.

There are also two aspects of life that you typically get to choose. The type of work you do affects your health from your stress levels to your blood pressure, impacting your day-to-day happiness. So finding a profession that's fulfilling will bring purpose to your life. Now, it goes without saying that your romantic partner is one of the most important people in your life, so choosing someone who's compatible with you is crucial.

3) Everything in moderation.

The concept of the golden mean dates back to Aristotle. It suggests that the answer to life's questions often lies at the midpoint between two extremes. In a word, it means moderation, which is the third secret to happiness.

Effective leadership requires a certain level of assertiveness that avoids becoming aggressive. Likewise, perfectionism can be the enemy of creativity if taken too far, but so can a complete lack of attention to detail. Perhaps you've heard of analysis paralysis. This is the anxiety-inducing result of having too many choices. Consumer research shows that people are happiest with the moderate selection to choose from. The same goes with money.

4) The Importance of a Playful Mindset

The fourth secret to happiness is not taking life too seriously all the time. As many influential thinkers have noted, play is essential for our well-being. Many psychologists believe that maintaining a childlike sense of creativity is key to staying inventive throughout life. But it has other important benefits, too.

Curiosity and zest, both of which are closely linked to playfulness, top the list of character strengths correlated with being content.

In relationships, humor is a form of play. Couples who regularly laugh together tend to have higher levels of marital satisfaction.

5) Variety – The Spice of Life

The fifth secret to happiness is variety. When we engage in a variety of activities, we keep our minds and bodies active while reducing the risk of boredom and stagnation. But as we've seen in previous sections, this too requires a delicate balance. Research suggests that having a diverse range of activities and goals is linked to our well-being.

But there's a catch. Pursuing too many activities can backfire if you end up unfocused and unproductive. Once again, the key is moderation.

6) & 7) Happiness Through Resilience

We've now arrived at the sixth and seventh secrets of happiness. They are, respectively, being persistent in pursuing your goals while being resilient when faced with failure. We'll all experience failure in myriad ways. It's a natural byproduct of working toward meaningful goals, and for that reason, the ability to bounce back from adversity is a fundamental aspect of life.

Simply put, failure or rejection isn't the end of the world. The more you expose yourself to it, the more you'll be able to find coping strategies to deal with it. Consider the world of entrepreneurship, where failure rates can be as high as 90%. Success demands tremendous inner strength. So rather than dwelling on your losses when things don't go to plan, take a breath and explore what you can learn from your mistakes. By embracing this fail-faster philosophy, you'll accelerate your personal growth, leading you to fulfillment sooner.

8) Reducing Regret

The final secret of happiness relates to regret. Regret negatively affects our health and well-being, and increases stress hormones and depression risk in older adults. But you can minimize regret by making decisions that align with who you are and what you want to do in life. There are different kinds of regrets, each of which arises from different kinds of decisions.

Firstly, short-term regrets stem from things we do, then wish we hadn't. Secondly, long-term regrets arise from inaction and lost opportunities, moments we wish we'd done something while we had the chance. Finally, there are deathbed regrets. These often relate to wishing we'd lived more authentically. This might mean regretting spending so many long hours at the office instead of with loved ones, or having not expressed your feelings more openly, or wishing you'd pursued a passion, generally things that would have brought more happiness into your life. Overcoming the fear of failure is key to avoiding the regret that comes from inaction.

Final summary. Happiness is the natural outcome of making considered and deliberate choices. By focusing on the things in life that you can control, you can create the conditions for the kind of meaningful and fulfilling life that will produce a happy outcome. These conditions include having the right job and romantic partner, seeking moderation, variety and play in life, being resilient in the face of failure, and minimizing future regrets.