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To Be More Resilient in a Crisis, Focus on Meaning, Not Happiness
With the virus surging and political chaos filling the news, there are a lot of sad, stressed, exhausted people out there right now, pacing their homes wondering how to be happier. But is happiness the right goal to chase?
The first clue that the answer might be no comes from Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who has argued that most people don’t really aim for happiness. That sounds shocking at first, but once you understand the distinction between happiness and satisfaction it makes perfect sense.
Happiness is the positive feeling you get from a walk in nature or tasty dessert. It’s definitely a good thing. But satisfaction runs deeper. It’s the sense of meaning and accomplishment that comes from a life well lived. At the end of the day, most people value satisfaction more. And the kind of things that bring satisfaction — building a business, raising kids — involve plenty of moment-by-moment unpleasantness.
For most of us, meaning trumps happiness. Experts insist that’s even more true in a crisis.
Meaning will get you through a crisis.
Research from Harvard Business School professor Jon Jachimowicz, for instance, shows that chasing purpose in your career is more likely to lead to…
