Happiness by Design
by Paul Dolan
A behavioral scientist defines happiness as experiences of pleasure and purpose over time, argues that attention is the key resource, and shows how to redesign environment and habits rather than relying on willpower. It is rigorous, somewhat dry, and refreshingly skeptical of life-satisfaction surveys.
Read it if…
you want a scientist's definition of happiness and a design approach to it.
Skip it if…
you want warmth; it is analytical.
Three things you will actually use
- Happiness is pleasure and purpose, experienced, not evaluated.
- Attention is the currency; allocate it.
- Design defaults; do not rely on willpower.
Do this first
Track for three days where your attention goes and whether each activity gave pleasure, purpose, both or neither.
Our verdict
Rigorous and useful.
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