Three ways to “buy” happiness

Image by Jan Buchczik for Arthur Brooks

Thanks to one of my favourite deep readers and thinkers, Georgie Loxton, for sharing in her latest newsletter an article by Arthur Brooks called: “How to buy happiness”. Broadly, the piece talks about how money can only buy happiness to a certain level. (Oh, in an earlier piece by me here, I share a wonderful video animation by Dan Pink on the three things that he finds that motivate us (plot spoiler, they are Purpose, Mastery, Autonomy). So, back to the piece by Arthur Brooks, and what leapt out to me was when he said:

how the wealthier among us spend their money makes all the difference for their well-being. Specifically, spending money to have experiences, buying time, and giving money away to help others all reliably raise happiness. Thus, if you have a little excess income, it’s best to use it on those three things.

To add to Arthur’s thoughts in his article, here I’ll share my own thoughts on each of these three ways to buy happiness, I hope they are valuable to you and actionable for you.

Buying Experiences

• A number of years ago, my brother and I, as well as my sons and I, all stopped buying gifts for each other for occasions like Birthdays and Christmas. Instead, we buy experiences. For example, in 2015 I turned 50, my oldest son 21, my second son 18. We folder that all up into a seven-day outdoor activity…