The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World's Happiest People(13)

Life satisfaction – now and in the future – among different income groups in Denmark



Source: Statistics Denmark





Fortunately, data from Statistics Denmark can tell us whether this is true, because Statistics Denmark not only ask people how good they feel about their lives right now, they also ask how happy they imagine they will be five years from now – and Danes expect to be even happier in the future. So perhaps Danes are less ambitious when it comes to the accumulation of stuff – but I don’t see any evidence that Danes have low expectations when it comes to happiness.





HAPPINESS TIP:





EXPECT THE HEDONIC TREADMILL


Take time to enjoy the journey towards your goal while also being mindful that achieving your goal will not fulfil you completely.

Expect and understand that reaching your goal might make you happy – but only for a while. We continuously raise the bar for what we want or feel we need in order to be happy. Getting your book published will make you happy for a while, and then you adjust your ambition to hitting the Sunday Times bestseller list, becoming a global phenomenon. I speak from personal experience.

I think we are yet to find the one thing that will permanently quench our thirst when it comes to ambition. So perhaps we need to consider how to turn the idea of the pursuit of happiness into the happiness of the pursuit. People on a quest for something they find meaningful – whether that is building a boat or growing the perfect tomato – tend to be happier; they know that happiness is the by-product of the process and not a pot of gold at the finish line.





EXPECTATION MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER


One morning, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet are talking about what they enjoy most in the world. And although Winnie is a big fan of eating honey, there is a moment just before he begins to eat which is better than eating itself, but he is not sure what it is called.

The A. A. Milne who wrote the stories about Winnie-the-Pooh was not an author, he was a happiness scientist. Expectation can be a source of joy. Imagine you could have a kiss from anyone you want. Any celebrity. Who would it be? George Clooney? Angelina Jolie? I would go with Rachel Weisz. (Yes, I know she is married to James Bond – no need to rub it in.) Do you have someone in mind? If you do, then consider this: When would you want that kiss? Now? In three hours? In twenty-four? In three days? In one year? In ten years?

If you are like the respondents in a study undertaken by George Loewenstein, professor in economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Center for Behavioral Decision Research, you would want the kiss three days from now. Yes, someone actually researched this question.

The study, ‘Anticipating and the Valuation of Delayed Consumption’, was published in 1987 – the year of the release of Dirty Dancing – so now we know who all the respondents in the original study wanted to kiss. The study also showed that the respondents would be willing to pay more for the experience three days from now than for having the experience right now.

Every year, I prioritize a week of skiing in the Alps with my friends. Not only is it the purchase of an experience, it is also an investment in others – and something I look forward to for the half-year running up to it. Imagining my friends and me skiing down the mountain (me humming the James Bond theme), or relaxing on our balcony, with a sky that is the kind of blue that can only exist when it is paired with white, snow-covered mountains, I can already feel the warm cup of coffee in my hand and the sun on my face.

The point is, in some circumstances, expectation can be a source of great joy. However, we must also be aware that, in others, expectation and ambition can be a source of misery.

HAPPINESS TIP:

PAY NOW, CONSUME LATER

If you buy an experience, make sure that it is well into the future, so you can look forward to it.

Six months from now, what would you like to do? See a certain band with your friends? Invite someone who you feel a lot of gratitude towards to a nice restaurant? Buy the tickets or the gift certificate now. Or go long. Ten years from now, what would be your dream experience? Start putting money aside in a separate happiness account.



Credit 15





KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES


When I do presentations I often ask the audience to imagine two worlds.

In the first world, you make ￡50,000 per year and everybody else makes ￡25,000. In the second world, you make ￡100,000 per year (so twice as much as before) and everybody else makes ￡200,000. Prices are constant, so a cup of coffee will cost the same in either world.

What about you? In which of these worlds would you choose to live? Usually, over 50 per cent of the audience would prefer to live in the first world. This is consistent with academic studies that have been carried out many times since the question was first posed at Harvard University in 1998. The reason why a large proportion of us prefer to live in the first world is that we not only care about our ability to consume, we also care about our position in the social hierarchy.





This is also the reason why we try to imitate the consumer pattern of people who are richer than we are. At the same time, the availability of credit has made it easier to imitate a lifestyle we cannot afford, and this, together with our desire to keep up with the Joneses, has been listed as one of the explanations for the financial crisis of 2008. In other words, we are spending money we don’t have to buy stuff we don’t need to impress people we don’t like.