Goals, Values, and Productivity
Many people tend to use the terms "values" and "goals" almost interchangeably. But though your goals and your values are related, they are not the same thing at all. Understanding the difference between your goals and your values can help you avoid or solve many...
The Role of Philosophy in Happiness
This series of articles on happiness would not be possible without the philosophic foundation I got from studying Ayn Rand, with much help from other Objectivist philosophers. Ayn Rand gave me an integrated understanding of the world, how you know it, and what matters...
The Primacy of Existence and Happiness
This series of articles on happiness is based on a specific view of the relationship of the mind and the world, which Ayn Rand called "the primacy of existence." This is the idea that "the universe exists independent of consciousness (of any consciousness), that...
Happiness and Embracing Causality
In a previous article, I argued that accepting reality gets you serenity. In this article, I will make a case that embracing causality gets you happiness. More exactly, my point is that consciously embracing the role of the causal agent of your own happiness is...
How Do You Measure Happiness?
Peter Drucker once said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." That applies to happiness just as much as to the quality of automobiles that Toyota is producing. If you want to be happier, a good place to start is to make objective just how happy you are...
The Role of Self-Understanding in Happiness
Self-understanding is critical to achieving enduring happiness. This assertion may seem simple and obvious. Happiness requires that you consistently achieve your values. To have such consistent success, you need to factor your own capabilities into your plans. But to...
How to Think About Emotions
In the most recent article in this series on happiness, I mentioned that the next topic would be embracing causality. To be happy, you need to understand the causal factors that contribute to your present emotional state so that you can enact the causes that will...
Productive Work, Happiness, and the Value Orientation
In this series on happiness, I have distinguished short-term pleasures and temporary joys from true happiness. To be in a state of true happiness, you need to gain your values every day, week, month, and year. This requires not only that you accept facts of reality,...
Your Indirect Control over Your Own Happiness
Our general topic has been happiness. We now get to the essential issue: can you make yourself happy? The answer is yes — but not by a direct process. You cannot guarantee existential success, nor can you predict your future emotions or your exact future...
FAQ: What if I don’t have any goals?
In the Thinking Lab, I have a lot of material teaching goal-setting. But generally, the exercises start with writing down a pre-existing list of goals or a vague goal or a list of possible goals. Usually the problem is that people have goals that do not effectively...