10 Ways to Boost Happiness

There are several things you can do to boost your happiness during this time of challenge and opportunity. The research shows that the strategies that work best depend on you—on your interests, strengths, and abilities. So here are a bunch of strategies to try. You can choose your favorites.

1. Find out what to do first.

How are you supposed to build the right happiness skills if you don’t know which ones you are struggling with in the first place? This is why it’s helpful to take one of the online happiness quizzes to help you to discover your happiness strengths and areas of growth. That way, you can make an educated decision about what to focus on first.

2. Give yourself a confidence boost.

Why would you bother increasing your happiness if you didn’t think you could be successful at it? You wouldn’t. That’s why it’s so important to build your confidence  — to prove to yourself that you can increase your happiness.  One of the best ways you can do this is by developing easier skills – like daily gratitude or making doing at least one fun thing each day a priority.  Get a quick win, and you’ll be more confident that you really can change your life.

3. Fuel your progress by learning how to feel better about yourself.

You wouldn’t practice math to get better at cooking. And you wouldn’t learn another language to lose weight. To be happier, you’ll likely make more progress by focusing on the skills that are most closely linked to happiness. According to research from the BerkeleyWell-Being Institute, the skill that usually turns out to be most closely linked to happiness is self-worth.  Luckily, you can learn how to feel better about ourselves—for example, by imagining your best possible self, noting your positive qualities or identifying your strengths.

4. Create balance and overcome burnout.

How are you supposed to have the energy to boost happiness if you are stressed,  exhausted ,and miserable from work? It will be really hard. Building new skills—skills that will help you happier—will take time and energy. So it’s helpful first to work towards taking care of yourself in addition to caring for others.

5. Build a growth mindset for happiness.

A growth mindset supports the belief that we can change ourselves. When we build a growth mindset for happiness, we believe we can change our happiness. This is very important, because if we don’t believe we can increase our happiness, we won’t even bother to try.

6. Make positive memories.

Every region in our brains can be strengthened through practice. If our brains are really good at remembering negative things that happen, it can be useful to strengthen the regions of the brain that are responsible for remembering positive experiences.

7. Find those silver linings.

Most of experiences can be viewed through a negative lens, if we choose.  But when you search for the benefits or silver linings in your life, you may be surprised to discover a lot more good than you thought.  Develop the habit of looking for silver linings to decrease negative emotions to cultivate happiness.

8. Take breaks from social media.

Over reliance upon social media can have a negative impact on our happiness. Choosing to take breaks from technology, or changing the way we use technology can boost our happiness.

9. Spend smarter for more happiness.

Our spending habits can impact our happiness. When we choose not to buy a fancy house or car—things that don’t bring us much happiness—we have more money to spend on adventures or on gifts for friends – things that actually do make us happier.

10. End your negative patterns of thinking.

Let’s face it: Sometimes we are what’s making us miserable. We just can’t stop thinking about how so-and-so wronged us, or how our life didn’t turn out as we hoped. Negative thought processes – like worrying, ruminating and judging ourselves harshly – just keep us miserable and unable to move forward. When you find yourself thinking negatively, pause and refocus your thoughts. The more you do this, your more your brain will be able to do this on its own.