The Little Book of Lykke ("Happiness") meets Working Out Loud - 3 of 8 - Pillar 2 of Happiness - Money

"Lykke" is the Danish word for "happiness" and is pronounced "loo-ka".

"Working Out Loud" and "Show Your Work" are practices where you share your work in progress of any type for others to view and contribute to.

A Working Out Loud Circle "is an approach to building relationships that can help you in some way. It’s a practice that combines conventional wisdom about relationships with modern ways to reach and engage people. When you work out loud, you feel good and empowered at the same time". (The 5 Elements of Working Out Loud (Revisited))

This is the 3rd in a series of 8 posts looking at Lykke and Working Out Loud using Meik Wiking’s 6 pillars of happiness from his book “The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People” as a framework for discussion to see whether Lykke and WOL complement each other.

This series is my response to #WOLweek 2019 and its theme of "Share the benefits of Working Out Loud". It is a follow-up to my series "The Hygge Manifesto meets Working Out Loud Circles" in #WOLweek 2017.

Definition

"Money": "a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively; the assets, property, and resources owned by someone or something; wealth."

The Little Book of Lykke

The relationship between money and happiness is complicated.

There is a correlation between income and happiness. 

Generally people in richer countries are happier.

Being without money is the cause of unhappiness.

We need food and shelter as a basic minimum.

The more we have of something the less happiness we get from it - law of diminishing marginal returns.

With our ambitions, once we achieve a goal we set another so there is a constant sense of dissatisfaction with our achievements.

We need to enjoy the journey to our goal and realise that achieving our goal might not fulfil you completely.

This is a change from the pursuit of happiness to the happiness of the pursuit.

Happiness is a by-product of the process

Expectation makes the heart grow fonder - Winnie the Pooh loved the moments before tasting honey.

Pay now, consume later - buy an experience well into the future so you can look forward to it.

Keeping up with Joneses - public status for your wealth - conspicuous consumption.

Law of Jante - tall poppy syndrome - describes aspects of a culture where people of high status are resented, attacked, cut down, strung up or criticized because they have been classified as superior to their peers.

Humility is a bigger virtue in Denmark than elsewhere,

Decouple well-being and wealth - enjoying a good quality of life does not have to cost a lot of money.

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants" Epictetus, Greek stoic / philosopher.

Link things with experiences as ties to your memory of that time.

Consider things that will bring you happy moments in the future.

How purchases impact your future behaviour e.g. a suggestion of schools planting apple trees for each pupil and harvesting all together and handing tree over to next new pupil in the next year.

Inexpensive attitudes that can bring happiness:-

1. reading - libraries - can be free - free therapy esp if fiction
2. create a smile file - write down every compliment + a grateful list and why you are
3. establish a free-fun fellowship - in a group zero-cost, low-cost activity, eat together at home with all bringing something - remove value / power of money when it comes to happiness

Buy memories not things - power of experiences as investment in happy memories and in your personal story and development

and experiences that are part of something bigger - an identity beyond your job may be.

Happiness may lead to higher income.

WOL Commentary

This made me think of extending "money" more widely to include all the resources we have including our time. our physical resources, our mental resources, our skills and our experiences. Collectively, I will label this as "wealth".

I also wanted to personalise this and look at our individual application of WOL rather than at organisational levels.

I was also reminded of the definition of "work" from "Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-lived, Joyful Life" (Burnett and Evans):

"By "work" we mean your participation in the great ongoing human adventure on the planet. You may or may not be getting paid for it, but this is the stuff you "do". Assuming you're not financially independent, you usually are getting paid for at least a portion of your "work". Don't for a minute reduce work only to that which you get paid for. Most people have more than one form of work at a time."

This definition of "work" I find really helpful. I recently did some life planning work (using Liz Ryan's book mentioned below) and it was an eye-opener to see all the skills that I have gained from outside my paid employment that I could use in various alternative forms of employment. I encourage those doing the 50 Facts About Me exercise in WOL Circles to think about those things when they list their facts.

What can you contribute from your wealth to the "welfare" of others? Contribution is a core value of WOL and WOL circles and contributing without an expectation of a return. This applies to individuals as well as to the communities you are a part of.

It is amazing being part of a circle and discovering the skills and experiences in the group that can help you. And likewise, and more importantly, the skills and experience that you have that you can use to help the group.

I am a fan of WOL Circles and am amazed at the impact they have had on my outlook on life and further encouraging me to share resources with others proactively and reactively.

The fact that taking part in a circle is "free" is also worth bearing in mind when working with people who are wondering where they go next in their lives or how to develop themselves or plan their life and career futures. The only cost is time.

Your level of happiness is often easily assessed by others and in reading Liz Ryan's "Reinvention Roadmap: Break the Rules to Get the Job You Want and Career You Deserve" book she makes the point that recruiters can spot unhappy candidates from a mile off. Not a good look and not helpful in gaining the new role.

I have had memorable WOL Circle, Twitter Chat and Book Club experiences, In some cases, I have not completed the objective but the experience of following the proposal has always been positive and helpful.

Being a grateful person is encouraged in the WOL Circle guides and is one of the easier contributions you can offer when connecting with people. It helps when you are really specific about what specifically you are grateful for in relation to that person. I am developing this in my own life further by using The Five-Minute Journal.

The Japanese concept of ikigai ("a reason for being") is mentioned in the WOL Circle Guides - and earning money is one of the dimensions in the ikigai diagram. Ikigai is also helpful in the context of happiness as it takes you through a process where other non-money-related dimensions are explored.

Taking Action

1. Do you recognise yourself with the ambitions comments about never being satisfied? What should you do about that?
2. How can you add to your "wealth"?
3. How can you share your "wealth" more?
4. To think about conspicuous consumption in a different way, to what extent are you guilty of conspicuous posting, commenting and liking?
5. Explore any form of journaling that encourages your gratitude.
6. Use the Ikigai diagram at this point in your life and assess where you want to move to from your current position and why.
7. Do one or more things related to the "Inexpensive attitudes that can bring happiness" list above.

Music Video

Money, Money, Money; ABBA (YouTube)

Bonus Content

Thailand Advertisement - how we spend our time and our response to situations

Resources

"Introduction to Showing Your Work" is a Wakelet that I curated from Helen Sanderson's 3 month Show Your Work programme in June - August 2019 and includes a number of WOL, WOL Circles and Show Your Work resource links plus my presentation on the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of running WOL Circles.

Author Info

Simon Fogg has been an IT professional for 35 years delivering business consultancy, project management and service management services. He is currently part of the Claritas Solutions team in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, UK. Claritas deliver technology solutions to clients in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors across the UK. He was first introduced to Working Out Loud, Working Out Loud Circles and Show Your Work in 2016 and has since facilitated 5 x 12-week global/virtual WOL circles and 1 of John (Stepper)'s pilot global/virtual Working Out Loud - Self-Care circles. In his spare time, Simon is the community manager for a global community of learners from many organisations and none running on Workplace by Facebook. WOL Circles, Book Clubs and other learning groups including 1:1 coaching and mentoring run on that platform on a non-commercial basis.