Wednesday, February 14, 2018

If you want to be happier buy yourself some time.



While many people believe that money buys happiness.  Research shows us that this is not entirely true.  It is actually the lack of money that buys unhappiness.  And, once you reach $75K a year in household income, additional income doesn't impact happiness as much as it does below that threshold.

What does increase happiness is buying time.  The ability to spend time on the things that you enjoy is priceless.  So it makes sense that buying time by outsourcing tasks, hiring help, and splurging on the occasional taxi makes people happier. (Blackman, 2014)

I learned a long time ago that I am better off paying someone to put together my Ikea purchases than doing it myself.  It's all a matter of considering how much time a task will take and then deciding how much your time is worth. 

But reallocation of time is not money dependant.  Sometimes it's just a matter of tuning in to where your time is going and making adjustments. 

For instance, when I want to buy something these days, I get lost for hours on the internet.  FOMO and my personal need for thoroughness cause me to waste far too much time looking at endless options.  Moreover, the more options you have, the more difficult the decision.  So it becomes an incredible time suck.

My solution is to put a time limit on my searches.  Say, an hour to look at rugs.  That seems like a reasonable amount of time to devote to the task.  And, it buys me time to do something I enjoy more.

Why not give it a shot?  It might work for you too.

Blackman, A. (2014, November 11) Can Money Buy You Happiness? wsj.com.  Retrieved February 14, 2018, from  https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-money-buy-happiness-heres-what-science-has-to-say-1415569538

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