And how about that bullshit that gets copied into my clipboard when I then try to copy and paste a section? I was trying to do a simple temperature conversation from the celcius temp mentioned in the article, and this is what went into my search bar:
I think the long commute tip is accurate overall, however can be mitigated. Before going back to grad school, my job required a long commute (easily 60 minutes each way). Getting up early bothered me, but the drive to work was fine as local radio morning shows were pretty good (though over the course of only 4 years of this commute, schedules changed removing 3 nationally syndicated shows, and 2 local shows before just setting on NPR...FM radio seems to be a cruel world). However, driving home was the worst...just the worst, even when listening to music off of my mp3 player, if i was running late to leave by even a few minutes the commute home could take an extra 15. I was much more stressed at the end of each day just from driving, and by the time i made and ate dinner i'd only really have ~2 hours to relax before having to go to bed to get up and start again. The unhappiness timeline:
- Stress turned into a general depression that my weekdays were robotic (sleep, wake, drive, work, drive, eat, sleep)
- I found myself becoming a more aggressive driver (more stress = wanting to get home faster)
- My general attitude was changing for the worse
- I started to alienate my significant other
A friend suggested i read a book for some reason and i picked up the audio copy to kill some time on the drive home. This turned out to be a life changer. Instead of focusing on getting home as soon as i could, i was relaxing on my drive. Happiness timeline:
- I found myself sitting in my driveway to hear the end of a chapter
- Getting home didn't mean i needed to retreat to the study for time to unwind
- I started driving slower and less aggressive (even letting people cut me off, etc)
- My relationship with my SO improved
- I felt smarter. My usual reading list is text book chapters to better understand a concept, but i really felt like i was a generally smarter person by including non-fiction.
- Most important is that i didn't feel like i was wasting time. Driving became a hobby in some sense, as opposed to a delay of when i can start/end my day.
By the end of my tenure i sometimes looked forward to my commute, only so i could keep listening. Of course audio books may not be your game, but the thesis is that if you find some way to make you feel like you're not wasting your time then you'll most likely not mind the commute (for example, my mom calls her mother, my grandmother, everyday on the commute home).
There was a guy at London Bridge Station last week singing show tunes at the top of his voice. Not sure if it was an undercover camera show or a mental health issue.
why just those two options? someone singing out loud might just be happy, not mentally ill. It's not a term I use lightly in the UK: see the mental health act.
I came here to take on the commuting point. Every time I read about how miserable long commutes are, I think of my dad. 45 minutes driving through traffic each way every day. Never hear him complain about it or get in a sour mood over it. He enjoys it.
It's all about attitude and making the best of your time. In traffic? Release your anger, it wont' get anywhere. Put on NPR (or whatever you like), take a refreshing tea or juice with you, don't rage at moronic drivers, etc.
Happiness is about attitude, especially your attitude towards stress. Nothing you can do will eliminate stress in your life. You may shorten your commute, but some other stressor will appear... smaller living quarters, more crime/noise in the city, etc.
I think public transportation really is an important factor, though. I don't commute, but if I did it would have to be by driving, and unfortunately I'm not the sort of person who can really be at peace while driving in traffic. It's not that I get road rage; it's more like I become hyper aware and focused on what's around me, so I can't really enjoy the alone time.
In the past, I've commuted by public transportation and I never minded it at all.
funny, I was thinking of the opposite.
I commuted by train for many years (45-60 mins) and while I enjoyed the time alone (mostly reading) I loved more the trips when I met with people.
Start the morning commuting with your best friend, work or study all day, meet a schoolmate you hadn't seen in a while on the way back.
I don't miss the overcrowded train, but I miss the people on it.
I'm not sure no commute is always better. Living in palo alto as a guy in your early twenties is pretty miserable - even if you can walk 10 minutes to work.
I recently started downloading podcasts from BBC Radio 4, They have some really great programmes on science, finance, politics and comedy. I just work my way through those once in a while, much better than music.
The time lost to commuting is also time where you don't meet other people, and don't exercise. Things like that also factor into the result, and you might not even be aware that you are missing out.
Although to be fair, most people I know don't meet a lot of people most of the time anyway. Modern work life seems to be work - TV all week long.
Podcasts have had the same effect for me with driving as well as chores like dishes, taking out the trash, etc. My only fear is I'm developing some sort of dependence on audio (specifically talk show type audio) to get anything done!
well the first book i tried was "how to argue and win every time" by gerry spence...not a particularly great book, but once i finished it, i moved to classics like lord of the rings, the great gatsby, 20000 leagues under the sea, etc. One suggestion is that even though librivox is free, the quality of audio book has a really high variance - unless you have the time to sort through the ones (cause sometimes there is just that one person you can't stand to listen to), just get them from your library
Brain-scan heatmaps are such pseudoscientific rubbish in this context. Am I supposed to be happier with an active brain like the one pictured after exercise? or with a quiet brain like that one pictured after meditation?
I grew up in a small town and was never bothered by driving around. In fact, I enjoyed it. I liked driving to and from high school.
Now that I live in a big city and the traffic is exponentially worse, I find I hate driving. This is just me, of course, but my driving experience is completely ruined in big cities most of the time. I can never quite get used to how aggressively people drive and just how bad the traffic can become. The city I'm in also has almost no public transportation.
It's not the time that bothers me. It's the manual driving and dealing with traffic. I spent a semester in Russia while in college and had about a 30 minute commute to class via the metro and I was never bothered by the time involved at all. I hardly even noticed the impact of the time spent commuting, though I admit that might have been influenced somewhat by the perpetual feeling of magic one experiences when studying abroad.
Anyway, in my case I decided to just rent an apartment in walking distance of the office and it was one of the best decisions I've made. If you're the sort of person who doesn't mind fighting traffic twice a day, I'm actually jealous of you--I could get a full house for the cost of my apartment if I moved to a suburb.
The short commute is nice, for sure, but you can't just uproot and move at the drop of a hat. There's a (not so) secret trick I use to deal with my long commute: public transportation. I live about 30 miles from my work in the city center and there's a commuter bus park and ride that cuts out my need to drive entirely. The benefits I've found so far:
- I save a ton of money I'd otherwise be spending on gas.
- By not having to worry about actually driving in traffic, I've found that I'm not stressed and in a bad mood by the time I get to work.
- I have time to myself to read, work on side projects, or take a quick nap.
- I stay on a consistent work schedule
- I get regular morning exercise by walking from the downtown bus stop to and from my office about 5 blocks away
When I tell people I take the bus, they're usually surprised and tend to ask "Well...how much longer does that take?". The response is always the same: "The same amount of time it would take to drive, only I don't pay for gas and I'm not stressed by traffic". Honestly, I'd recommend it to anyone.
Getting a near-by-bus job in your field isn't necessarily a drop of a hat thing either, although generally still easier than moving. I've been in the position of choosing a half hour drive or a two hour bus ride -- from experience I prefer the former.
This is partly up to differing values as well: Not all side projects are bus-portable, and for myself a consistent work schedule is a drawback. I'm also fortunate enough to covet few physical possessions, making moving easier for me than others, although it still took me a year to get around to moving right next to my current workplace.
Similarly, some people find some physical work vs personal life separation to be important, to better do the same separation emotionally -- they would find my 60 seconds by normal walking pace commute intolerably close.
> 3. Move closer to work – a short commute is worth more than a big house
I disagree with this one. It's possible to live too close to work. If the commute is less than 15 minutes or so, or perhaps more to the point, if it isn't far enough to feel like a separate place, I'm less happy. I need the separation.
I've experienced this both in college — I was happier when I moved across the river from most of my classes and classmates — and recently at a job, where it was about a 7 minute bike ride to work. You'd think that's ideal, but I felt trapped, like my home was nothing but an extension of the office.
One of my happiest times, in fact, was when I had an 11 mile bike commute (or an hour and 15 minutes on two trains). It wasn't very practical, and was logistically difficult (and I was often late), but I felt amazing.
I've never owned a car, though, so maybe the guideline about shorter commutes is correct if you drive. I've always either walked, biked (exercise) or taken the train (opportunity to read, meditate, relax).
>> I disagree with this one. It's possible to live too close to work. If the commute is less than 15 minutes or so, or perhaps more to the point, if it isn't far enough to feel like a separate place, I'm less happy. I need the separation.
I totally agree with this. I once lived a 20 minute walk from work and that was great. When I moved closer and as a 2-3 minute walk I really didn't like it. I'm not too sure why, possibly it didn't give my brain time to adjust to the two modes.
The brain 'down time' is quite enjoyable and very important to forming thoughts and plans I think.
I live 8 minutes from my work, and I'm really happy about that, I hated my long commute.
It is 3 km away though :) , I do drive , and I'm in a job that I hate and which doesn't require me to take my work home (I'm leaving it but I'm stuck for a few months more).
If it's a short walk away then yes, it might sound more intrusive.
A little bit related, but taking public transport has improved my life quite a bit. I now have 25 minutes a day where I do nothing but read. It's been terrific.
Advice like that makes me doubt the science a bit. As well as the famous result that people are happier without children. It's certainly interesting to measure such things and ponder what it means, but perhaps the results should make them wonder if they have been measuring the wrong thing.
Dan Ariely pointed out that for example mountaineering seems to be all misery, but people seek out the experience again and again. I wouldn't be surprised that with their technology, the happiness researchers would conclude that mountaineering does not bring happiness at all. Like if they ping the mountaineer every ten minutes to ask "how happy are you right now on a scale of 1 to 10" all they would see might be misery.
Also Nassim Taleb noted in "antifragile" that a happiness researcher he knows who is famous for the "more money doesn't bring more happiness" result is himself very keen on being paid well for his speaking gigs.
> Obvious miss - "8. Plan a trip – but don't take one" ??
The "but don't take one" part seems unfounded. This is closer to the point:
"One study found that people who just thought about watching their favorite movie actually raised their endorphin levels by 27 percent."
I've found myself feeling good just thinking about something fun or exciting I plan to do. Little things, even just a particularly interesting book I was going to read. Or thinking about parts of a fun side project.
> Exercise is moderately more effective than no therapy for reducing symptoms of depression.
> Exercise is no more effective than antidepressants for reducing symptoms of depression, although this conclusion is based on a small number of studies.
> Exercise is no more effective than psychological therapies for reducing symptoms of depression, although this conclusion is based on small number of studies.
> The reviewers also note that when only high-quality studies were included, the difference between exercise and no therapy is less conclusive.
> Attendance rates for exercise treatments ranged from 50% to 100%.
> The evidence about whether exercise for depression improves quality of life is inconclusive.
EDIT: Exercise is good. Don't stop exercising. But don't tell people that exercise alone is a treatment for depression.
Had it been, I'd have known by now, but it does help, especially I'd say long runs (>10km).
Interestingly, while sleep depravity makes me more irritable and more prone to feel anger as the article says, it also increases my positive emotions by a substantial amount, purely anecdotal of course.
Indeed. I have the theory of middle aged madness. Around that point in life the responsibilities are huge and stress mounts up. Kids, career, mortgage, and so on. Loads of things seems like threats to all that, and the middle aged get all finger pointy and scared. Once you get past that, as you say, you survived and relax.
What is happiness? There are hundreds of things that count as happiness. Release of endorphins? Connection with others? Work/life balance? Sense of purpose? Sense of community? Satisfaction? Calmness? Serenity? Being in the zone? Joy? I tend to use happiness as a catch-all word for positive experiences.
Actually commuting with the bicycle makes me more happy. Because it combines several of his positive points (exercise, be outside etc.) and avoids the stress of driving a car in heavy traffic.
In my opinion the most important thing you can do for happiness is to have purpose. If you don't have a cause you are willing to dedicate your life to, something that you will give it your all to see realized, then you are not really living, you are just surviving, and when you reflect upon your life you'll feel emptiness.
10. Practice gratitude – increase both happiness and life satisfaction
This is true. A lot of us ungrateful in life sometimes and we forgot the little things like family, friends and having some basic things we need in life to survive.
Find a good set of audio tracks (I like bodhipaksa, but there are many) and set aside some time.
Even if it doesn't seem to have much effect on the first try, keep going, it takes time to learn.
The key is that you're learning a new skill, like running, catching a ball, or riding a bike. When you learn those sorts of things you create a mostly sub-conscious mental association between certain triggers and the response to them. When you learn to meditate you create an association between some sort of trigger and a state of relaxation. The trigger can be anything, often people use a combination of posture and some sort of chant to help. For myself it tends to be some combo of breathing out and relaxing my shoulders.
You can use the same technique to tap into other mental states but it may be more difficult.
Just don't mix it up with any fad diets. I have a friend who swears he received incredible visions while meditating and following the Beyonce diet (this consists of living on maple syrup + cayenne pepper for a month). Uhh no dude, those were hallucinations caused by your brain slowly dying...
For actual meditation, I'd recommend apnea AKA freediving.
I highly recommend doing a 10-day silent vipassana course. You can find centers world wide at http://dhamma.org
They are free and are non-religious, and tremendously helpful.
For reference, this is actually a Buffer blog post: http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-m...