18 non-monetary ways to be happy

A post from my old blog: these are some tips that should make you happy. They've been compiled from a variety of sources, so I'm sure they'll work, but it might take a bit of conscious effort to implement them :)

"Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like a violin" -- John Lubbock

1. Be with loved ones: Research shows that happy people spend very little time alone. Instead, they surround themselves with friends and family, and find joy in sharing their lives with others.
2. Marry someone you love and respect: Advice from Socrates: "By all means marry: if you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher".
3. Smile a lot: Acting the part often leads to feeling the part. Besides, it'll make you look a lot better, and might even make someone else happy.
4. Laugh a lot: Not only is it good for your heart, but also for you and the people near you.
5. Be honest -- except for a few white lies: Honesty is the best policy, and saves a lot of heartache down the road. Of course, the road to honesty is to become a person of exceptional integrity, which while difficult, is possible. But remember to tell your next-door neighbor that she looks like she lost some weight...
6. Spend less than you earn, and plan for your retirement: No matter how little you're earning, and how badly you want to buy those expensive shoes (apply whatever seems to pull you the most) don't splurge on them if your bank manager isn't too pleased with you.
7. Give as much as you can: Children in orphanages often write to Santa: "I don't really want anything, but my sister needs a coat because it's so cold". Give to those with less than you, both in terms of time and money. Few other actions are as rewarding.
8. Lead a sensual life: Surround yourself with pleasant smells: nice perfume, beautiful flowers, baking cookies. Keep a nice painting or photo on your wall. Buy flowers. Eat spicy food.
9. Get rid of clutter: Clean your wardrobe, your desk, your kitchen. Don't let things that don't help pile up. Donate things that you don't useWhether they're books that you don't read, clothes that you don't wear, or gifts that you'll never use: give them to someone who'll appreciate them.
10. Be healthy: Eat healthy, avoid junk food and excess alcohol, exercise regularly, and make sure you go for your yearly check-ups.
11. Remember that you're healthy: An interesting study shows that happiness is not directly correlated to being healthy. Many healthy people take their health for granted. Whereas some sickly people appreciate the few healthy days that they enjoy. Hypochondriacs are the most miserable.
12. Be grateful: Gratitude is essential to happiness. Psychiatrists have found that talking and writing about what they're grateful for amplifies adults' happiness. Learning to savor the small pleasures has the same effect.
13. Spend some time reflecting on life: Meditate, keep a journal, or do both. They will give you perspective and structure to your life.
14. Set your own standards: Forget the Jones. Establish goals for yourself, based on what you think is reasonable. You'll be happier when you achieve those, than what the Jones' have.
15. Find activities that you love: Try to spend most of your time doing work or activities which make time flow faster. The happiest people are usually busy with things that they love to do, whether it's cooking, starting a new business, or being with a child.
16. Construct routines, but remember that surprises often lead to greater happiness: Life is too full of uncertainties to be controlled. Yet those experiences which we don't plan for, often lead to greater growth and fulfillment.
17. Stretch yourself mentally: Learning leads to a satisfaction much greater than any impulse purchase.
    

And finally, for ways to buy yourself some happiness, check out this post

More on the happiness-wealth correlation

Money isn't that important to being happy, despite my previous post on how to "buy" happiness.
No matter how hard you try, it won't be possible to use money to be happy unless you love what you do, and have close friends and family. Those are the very basics, just as a minimum amount of money is required for basic necessities.
There seems to be a lot of discussion regarding the money-wealth correlation. The Happiness Project talks about a recent study concluding that comparative wealth is more important for happiness than absolute wealth. The comments led me to a Yahoo! Finance column on Money & Happiness.

Why do people always wonder about happiness and wealth? I think it begins with the unthinking, righteous people who feel that they must instantly protest that money doesn't make a person happy. After all, people who want money are greedy, and greedy people are sinful and selfish and mean.

The study quoted in the Happiness Project concluded that people would rather earn $50,000 while other people made $25,000, than earn $100,000 while others made $250,000. This study does make me uncomfortable, it brings up too many beating-the-Joneses connotations. I really don't like using money to show off or impress others: there's too much schadenfreude involved.

Maybe that's why the self-righteous immediately protest against those who want to earn more: they just don't want to watch the neighbours driving a flashier car.

10 questions to ask before you join a new job

Still unable to write a new post, I'm reposting another old article from my other blog. I hope it's of some help to job-seekers.

When hunting for a job, most candidates are so busy trying to sell themselves, that they don’t research the company thoroughly enough to see if they’re a good fit or not.

It’s very important for a candidate to ask questions about the company. If you’re looking for a job, you should definitely try to find out if working at the company will drive you crazy or not ;)
Here are some questions that you should try to get answered. Many of these are not things that you can ask during your interview. The most valuable sources of information are usually friends who are currently working in the company, who know the company somehow, or who are working in the industry.

Well, here are the questions:

1. What type of work will I be doing? Establish this one early on. Ask for examples. We recently hired two people to conduct phone surveys. Anyone expecting to create policy reports would have been disappointed. So often, the job description is just a vague generalization of something the HR manager thought should be mentioned. And, in the real world, you will never get exactly what you expect. But it’s always better to ask: for a while, our Brand Management department was looking for people in different areas, although the designation for each was the same.


2. Who will be on my team, and what is their background? You might be able to find this information online and the answer to this might not really change too much for you. But good people are good to be around. If very talented and smart people are on your team, work is more likely to be fun, you are more likely to meet people you’ll enjoy being around, and at the very least, you’ll pick up something. Good team members indicate that the team is capable, but the lack of them might also indicate that you will have the opportunity to build the team’s capabilities. (Ahem: assuming that you’re that good, of course!)


3. Why do you want to hire someone? How will that person contribute?Sell yourself, describe how you’ll be able to contribute, and hope that it’s a good match. But wait, why should you just sit and hope? Go ahead and ask, what is it that they would like from their new employee? You’ll gain a much better understanding of what your future at the firm would be like.


4. What are the issues facing this team, at the moment? This one shows your interest. Ideally, you will not ask this during the interview, but to some nice young people who work in that team. Someone might just mention the rivalry with the other department, and the chance that the division will be eliminated.


5. What are the opportunities for this team in the future? Don’t ask this if the answer is very obvious. But if the division or project is new, this is the chance for your potential supervisor to paint a rosy future for you. You’ll get to judge if the best-case scenario is really something that you want.


6. Will the company ownership change in the near future? Ok, so you probably won’t get an answer to this one. But try to find out. If there’s a chance, the rumors will be floating around. Someone working in the industry, or in the banking sector, might be able to answer this.


7. What are the pay, benefits, etc? You will probably have to negotiate this one after you get the offer. But make sure to negotiate. Don’t just settle by not knowing the details. For instance, these days many companies have rules that state that an employee must return the signing bonus if he/she leaves before a certain period of time.


8. Will I need to travel or work late hours? Whichever company you decide to join will appreciate it if you forget the clock and finish your work, meet deadlines, and go beyond the call of duty. But ask if late hours are normal (i.e. 4 out of 5 days), if you’ll need to work on weekends regularly, or if you’ll be required to travel a lot. Be honest with yourself as to how much of this you can handle sanely.


9. What would be the future career path of someone entering this company in this position? Yet another chance for your future supervisor to wax on, hopefully. Just make sure that what he/she makes sense, and seems reasonable.


10. What type of experience will I gain? This is slightly different from number 1. In essence, you are trying to find out how this position will improve your resume, what kind of value addition you will receive. Will you learn how to work with different types of people, make key contacts in the industry, gain skills that can be transferred to other industries…. What?

Well, these are the questions that I came up with, I wonder if anyone has more suggestions?