As I mentioned in the post Everything in Moderation, realistic thinking is a large part of being happy. Another important factor is examining how you are benefiting from the activities you are choosing to perform. Happiness is built on two types of activities: those that give you pleasure and those that give you a sense of achievement. Surprisingly, if you ask people to look closely at what they do with their lives, many people would rate their activities low on these two important factors. Lets take a further look at how pleasure and achievement affect our lives.

Pleasure

Pleasure is what you do to have fun. Do you like to watch TV? Do you like to listen to music?  You might be surprised about how much pleasure you are actually getting out of your activities.  Rating activities gives us a clue to how valuable they are in our lives. For example, many Americans spend at least 2 hours every day watching shows on TV or the internet. In comparison, you might spend about half an hour reading a book. Say you rate watching TV a 4 out of 10 on the pleasure scale and reading as a 6 out of 10. You spend 6 hours a week reading and 15 hours a week watching TV.  In this example, you are spending a lot of time on an activity that is not giving you much pleasure.  It doesn’t seem to make much sense but many of us spend time on “fun” activities that we don’t actually find all that fun.

Too Much Of a Good Thing

What about the person who plays video games 6 hours every day and they rate it very highly on the pleasure scale? They may  enjoy it but is it healthy? Remember, everything in moderation. There is a good chance that you are neglecting meaningful parts of your life if you are spending too much time on one activity.  In addition, focusing on a singular activity is likely preventing you from finding other interests you would enjoy. Having varied experiences keeps them fresh and brings you more happiness. In other words, you can have too much of a good thing.

Achievement

Participating in activities that give you a sense of achievement may not always be fun but it has a good outcome. For example, most people would say work is not pleasurable but they feel they have achieved something after putting in a full day. Exercising is something many people dread but feel good about after they have done it.  Also, don’t underestimate the little things. Doing that load of laundry may not give you much of a sense of accomplishment but it is better than taking that unnecessary nap in the middle of the day. The best activities are those that can give you both pleasure and a sense of achievement. If you enjoy your job, for instance, you are having fun and feeling accomplished all at once. It is these types of activities you should try to maximize in your life.

Rate Your Happiness

With this knowledge in mind, I would ask you to take a look at your typical day. Write down all the activities you do and rate them on a scale of 1-10 on their levels of pleasure and achievement. If many of your daily activities rate at a 5 or below it is time to make some changes. Remove those low rated activities and replace them with those that give you significant pleasure and a sense of achievement. You will be happy you did.