TLDR: Happiness is not a destination, but a process. First _SUBTRACT_ things that cause you to be unhappy.
Five simple low hanging fruit are:
1. cut out negative information (i.e. the news!),
2. get rid of the 20% of things causing 80% of the unhappiness
3. subtract negative people from your life
4. don’t try and “prove” yourself
5. don’t attach happiness to goals or possessions.
Ken’s Take:
5 Simple Things I Removed from My Life to Become Happier
Happiness comes from subtraction, not addition.
The last one is tough – the “hedonistic treadmill” takes your gains and makes them your new normal, making you revert to your base unhappiness. It’s easy for me to say “hop off” – to a lot of people I’m pretty darn rich with lots of “stuff”. All I’ll say is that it isn’t nearly what I “could” have, and I certainly don’t care what car or house other people have.
Negative people… this is tough because sometimes they are in _your_ family! Hmmmm… honor your responsibilities, be passively brutal to all the others. Don’t fight, just don’t engage, or spend time around them.
As an aside, I write the TLDR section (Too Long Didn’t Read) to make sure I understand what the author wrote by explaining it as simply and in as little of my own bias as I can manage.
Ken’s Take: is my spin on it. Sometimes that’s enough – if it intrigues you read the article, and feel free to drop a comment on the article, the TLDR, or Ken’s Take.