Find something to look forward to

We never truly know what will happen in the future. That can make planning a fraught activity. In late 2019, I recorded a podcast urging people to plan all their 2020 vacations then, so they could look forward to them.

Anyone who took my advice probably wound up doing at least some canceling.

But even though plans sometimes have to change, I do think there is value in planning — and in particular there is value in planning in fun stuff. Always having something to look forward to allows us to weather rough times as we think of good stuff to come.

A happiness boost

This is because anticipation actually accounts for the bulk of the happiness we gain from any event. One study that looked at happiness and vacations found that people who were going on vacations were happier than those who weren’t — of course!

But the more interesting finding is that the biggest boost in happiness came before the trip when people imagined the fun they would have. In the actual moment of experience, nothing is ever perfectly blissful. You can be sitting on a tropical beach with the love of your life and be obsessed with whether a mosquito is about to bite your leg.

While that sounds like an unfortunate aspect of human nature, you can use it to your advantage. When we plan fun stuff in ahead of time, we can give ourselves a certain boost (unlike the more nuanced boost in the moment). That’s true even if the stuff doesn’t wind up happening. After all, you still got the anticipation!

Put in more good things

Of course, it’s more fun when things do happen. And the good news is that a great many of the fun things we plan in actually do come to fruition.

So if your calendar looks a little ho-hum right now, plan in something that you will genuinely look forward to. Maybe it’s a dinner out with friends to celebrate someone’s birthday next month. Maybe it’s a weekend day trip to a favorite park with fabulous hiking. Maybe it’s a week at the beach this summer, or coffee with your work mentor.

It’s hard to overstate how much this anticipation of future fun can change your experience of the present. Some days will be slogs. But a slog when the future looks like more of a slog is one thing. A slog when you’ve got dinner this weekend with old friends is a different matter. The slog feels doable. It is not the whole story.

So what are you looking forward to right now? Let me know!

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