Happiness Is A Productivity Hack: A Calm Mind Wins
“If you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy?”
If you think you’re too “happy” to change the world, you’re wrong.
My wife and I talk about this all the time. We wonder if we’re too “happy” and “balanced” to be artists who create work that can affect millions.
There’s a cache around the idea of the “starving artist.” These are artists who create work from the depths of suffering. And great work can definitely come from dark places. It’s just not a very efficient place to build from.
On the whole, happy people are more productive. Here’s why:
Happy People Have More Control Over Their Minds.
Happy people tend to have calmer minds because they are living in the present.
When you’re eating well, exercising, creatively fulfilled, and spending time with people you love, you are far less anxious about the future. Your mind is not on the run creating fictional future disasters. Instead, it’s focused on the present task at hand.
And when you are present, it is much easier to create. Your mind is not self-judging your work before you even begin. It’s calm and quiet and less distracted. And this gives you the freedom to play - the freedom to explore and experiment.
If you are happy, you can be present. And if you are present, you can play.
Here’s Naval Ravikant talking about this in a post called Being Unhappy Is Extremely Inefficient:
“Being unhappy is very inefficient. A peaceful person doesn’t have extraneous thoughts going through their head. If you’re a driven, unhappy person, your mind will be on 24/7. What are the consequences of this? You won’t sleep well. You’re much more likely to react with anger and dig yourself into a hole you have to dig out of. Your decisions are emotional and impetuous. You’re more likely to get caught in the busy trap—busy all the time and running from one thing to another because you can’t mentally prioritize.”
Meditation Can Ground You To The Present.
Meditation helps you return to the present moment. I’ve been meditating since the beginning of 2020, and the benefits have been life-changing.
When you no longer fully identify with your thoughts, you are free to return to your current experience. And the present moment is often far less painful than what your mind is cooking up.
Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Naval:
“To measure the quality of your life, simply do nothing, and see how it feels.”
If you’ve never tried meditating, I recommend using Sam Harris’ app Waking Up (not an affiliate link). It’s $100 / year, but if you contact their support team because that’s too expensive, they can usually give you a hefty discount. There’s also a free trial, so you can see if you like it.
Happy People Don’t Waste Energy On Envy.
How much time and energy do you waste comparing yourself to other people?
I use to do it all the time (and am still guilty sometimes!). But, the happier you are, the less envious you are. And you can use that time and energy to be productive instead.
I learned a simple trick from Naval on how to get rid of jealousy forever. Here’s an excerpt from my article about this:
“Imagine swapping lives entirely with the person you are jealous of. You can’t just cherry-pick the aspect of their life you want. You can’t just pick their wealth, or their good looks, or their social status.
Instead, you have to be willing to give up your life to take over their life completely. You have to give up everything you have (your friends, family, possessions, life experience, etc.) to step into their shoes. Do you still want to do it? Probably not.”
So, don’t waste time wishing for stuff other people have. Instead, use your energy to build the life you want.
Happy People Make Better Decisions.
Naval tells us that happy people are not only more productive, but they make better decisions too. And with access to so much leverage in the modern world, the quality of your decisions has never been so important.
An unhappy mind chooses that which provides the quickest reward - the fastest dopamine hit. But a happy, calm mind plays the long game. You’re more likely to give up something now to get more later.
Here’s Naval again in a post called Work The Least For It:
“When I got happier in my own life, I became much more effective—even though I don’t work as hard as I used to… I make decisions much more clearly now, because I can see the long-term outcomes. I cut straight to the chase and don’t try and negotiate an extra 20% here or there—because I know that’s going to make me unhappy in the long-term, make the other person unhappy, and make the deal less stable.”
One key characteristic of wealth creators is a tendency to do what’s uncomfortable in the short run to get more in the long run. So, make more decisions that benefit your future self, not your current self.
High Emotions Lead To Worse Decisions.
The worst decisions I’ve ever made have come from a place of high stress and high anxiety. In other words, high emotion.
Try getting four hours of sleep and then make a good decision. It’s almost impossible. The stress level that even one night of sleep deprivation induces can leave you vulnerable to bad decision-making.
The same goes for high levels of anxiety and unhappiness. If you are overworked and highly stressed, and your mind is always running in a state of fight or flight, it’s impossible to properly analyze the likelihood of various outcomes and make a logical decision.
If you find yourself in this kind of state and forced with a decision to make, do not make it. Wait at least a few hours until the highs of your emotions fade. Then make a decision based on logic, not emotion.
Happiness Is A Habit, Not A Destination.
Naval believes that you can learn to be happy. It’s a skill you can develop like anything else. Here’s Naval in his book, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant:
“Maybe happiness is not something you inherit or even choose, but a highly personal skill that can be learned, like fitness or nutrition.”
I recently wrote an article on Naval’s life formulas for success. He writes out the formula for happiness like this:
Happiness = Health + Wealth + Good Relationships
You can learn how to take care of your body and mind. You can learn to get rich. And you can learn to get better at managing your relationships. Therefore, maybe happiness IS a skill you can learn.
For me, happiness feels more like a habit than a destination. It consists of exercise, meditation, creative work, and time with family, day after day after day. It’s not a place to go - it’s something to practice.
So forget about “where you’re going” and focus on where you are. That’s the only place you can affect real change.
Start now.
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ARTICLE SOURCES
Jorgenson, Eric. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness (pp. 129-130). Magrathea Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Naval Ravikant: Being Unhappy Is Extremely Inefficient
Naval Ravikant: Work The Least For It