Self-Help Happiness Blog

Happiness Is Hard Work…at least in America.

A new study published in the April issue of the Journal Of Happiness Studies reveals that Americans who work harder tend to be happier. The “Protestant work ethic” is alive and well – and making people happy – in America.

Americans tend to be like Doozers:

Work you cares away,
Dancing’s for another day.
Let the Fraggles play,
Down at Fraggle Rock.

In Europe, the story is completely different. Europeans are happiest working shorter hours.

Europeans tend to be like faggles:

Dance your cares away,
Worry’s for another day.
Let the music play,
Down at Fraggle Rock.

“Those who work longer hours in Europe are less happy than those who work shorter hours, but in the U.S. it’s the other way around,” study author Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn says. It seems that Americans are happiest working and building

The researchers speculate that happiness has less to do with actual hours spent working on each continent than about how people on either side of the ocean view success. The “American Dream” is about how anybody can make it big if they just work hard enough. Europeans seem to focus more on “quality of life”.

Not surprisingly, Europeans are surprised by the results of this study. The UK’s Daily Mail says it all in it’s headline: “America’s bizarre secret to happiness: More work”.

So what contributes to your happiness more – work or off-time?

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This post was featured in the Working at Home Blog Carnival.

In our continuing support of the 12 for 12K Challenge, we are pleased to share with you the februrary charity, which is Stop the Silence. 

It is estimated that about 150 million girls and 75 million boys are vicitims of sexual abuse, and that the majority of all sexual abuse victims are girls who are minors.  Pretty scary.

Here is a short video about Stop The Silence…

(If the video does not appear, click here.)

Note: When using the ChipIn widget to make your donation, the email on the front page will be the main 12for12k Charities one. However, your payment does go directly to Stop the Silence and your PayPal or Credit Card receipt will show this.

I want to share with you the message that was sent out today to subscribers of A Daily Dose of Happiness.  This is particularly timely because of the credit crunch that is making everyone suffer, but if you are a sensitive sort, you might not want to read any further; I am about to rain on most people’s parade. 

The credit crunch is a product of – let’s not mince words – greed.  All of our greed.  We wanted more, more, more (SFX: maniacal laughter in background).  Well, we got more, more, more than we could ever hope to throw away without even opening the excess packaging.  Sooner or later we have to pay for it.  Sooner or later has arrived.

Today’s Daily Dose of Happiness Message 

You know that whole debate about money buying happiness. It gets overly simplified, like far too many things.

I recall attending a Zig Ziglar seminar a few years ago. He said, “Money is not the most important thing in life, but it comes reasonably close to oxygen.”

His point is well taken, but how much oxygen do you need? There is a point at which more oxygen can be a life-saver. There is also a point where more oxygen becomes overkill.

Likewise with money. The first dollar you make this year will be very, very important for your happiness. At some point, when your basic needs are secured, the value of money starts falling dramatically. The 100,000th dollar you make this year will likely bring some extra momentary pleasure, but is unlikely to  actually make you happier.

The key is to find the point at which money stops making you happier. Any investment of additional time to earn more money will actually reduce your happiness (more money that does not add to your happiness, less time that would have).

Any further compromise of values or principles required to earn more money will likewise reduce your happiness (more money that does not add to your happiness, less integrity that would have).

Instead of accepting that we have to pay for all the excess of the past couple decades, we want the government (that’s us, remember?) to buy us even more excess.  Yes, we in the Western world really are embarassingly spoiled rich kids.  The problem, as any credit counselor can tell you, is that you cannot spend your way out of debt.   And as we dig our way into even greater debt, I just cannot see how that creates more happiness.  I fear we are collectively handing over the keys to what I call “The Merchants of Misery” in my book, Climb Your Stairway to Heaven.

I mentioned a while ago that we are supporting the 12 for 12K Challenge, a charitable campaign launched through social media.  Each month in 2009, a new charity will be selected, and we are asking you to consider a small donation ($10, but feel free to give more if the spirit moves you).

The first charity, for January 2009, is War Child.  Why?  There is a good piece where Danny Brown puts the value of $10 in perspective. 

Here is a quick overview of the War Child Charity:

…and below is a video of Little Lady and Little Sister protesting against poverty.  In truth, they did this 100% spontaneously the first time, but I did not have a camera handy then.  So this is actually a “re-enactment” video.  Note that the banner reading “PlYSE” is supposed to read “Please” (not bad for a 7-year old learning to write in French), as in PlYSE support the 12 for 12K Challenge.

YouTube is not embedding this correctly, so here is the direct link to the video: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ajimCKvI6-E

I’ve just sent my $10 donation; why not send yours now?

From yesterday’s Daily Dose of Happiness: 

TIME

They say that time is money, but it’s not. Time is everything.

No matter what you are doing, you are spending time. You can’t slow
down or speed up the pace of the time you spend. All you can do is
increase or decrease the value of what you get for that time.

If you are spending a lot of your time in drudgery work or watching a
TV or computer screen, maybe you could do something to increase the
value of the time you are spending. Perhaps you would like to spend
more time with people, more time playing sports, more time
philosophizing…whatever you enjoy doing, whatever fulfills you,
that’s how you should spend your time. Because whatever you are
doing, you are spending it, and even where there is a money-back
guarantee, there is no time-back option.

Look at how many people live on less than $2 per day!  This is incredible.  Imagine living on what would buy you no more than a handful of rice and beans and perhaps a glass of milk.  No clothes.  No shelter.  No vehicle.  Not even Internet access.

OK, that’s not completely true.  Many of these people have makeshift houses they build themselves.  And many of them have access to in-season fruits and vegetables.  And most do have some meager clothing.  But none of them will be reading this — even those who can read — because Internet is not something even within their world.

Do I mention this to make you sad?  No, quite the contrary.  You should feel lucky, blessed, fortunate and generous as a result of the blessings you have.  Enough of the “if only I had…” or “if only I could…” or “I just have to get one of those…”  We are all living in the lap of luxury, even most of those who are labeled “poor” have more than the majority of people living today, and an even greater majority of people living throughout history.

In an article entitled Money tilts the happiness scale, a persuasive argument is made that money and happiness are connected.  More specifically, wealth and happiness.  The article suggests that with wealth comes the ability to spend more time doing things we really enjoy, rather than things that are unpleasant (such as earning income).  If money buys a housekeeper, for example, that eliminates time spent doing housework.  If, on the other hand, money buys a fancy car and you still have to do the housework, the money probably hasn’t made you any happier.

It should be noted that “work” is one of those activities that does not bring most people happiness, so the pursuit of money is not the pursuit of happiness.  Wealth, not income, is positively correlated with happiness.