Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days

human beings, from an emotional point of view, are a bit like bicycles. If you’re not heading towards something, you tip over. Growth, purpose and becoming the person you want to be are all key for happiness.

The man in hole shape is also, so psychologists have discovered, the one most likely to lead to personal happiness. Studies in narrative psychology have found that there are two distinct types of personal narratives that people tell, and that these stories follow two very different ‘emotional sequences’. In one, the story begins with an event that

Sixth, there should be what Csikszentmihalyi called the ‘paradox of control’. You should be at the absolute outside edge of your ability, so that you’re only just, not quite, but yes, just about hanging on in there. As

The notion that it’s too late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious. We’re graduating college. We’re so young. We can’t, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all we have.’

Think about a few of the larger experiences you had in the past, like a long-term project you took on, or a trip that covered a long distance, or perhaps just a time you had an adventure. Compare this with a simpler experience, maybe just a normal holiday. Then, ask yourself these questions about each of the experiences, giving an answer on a scale

Story, Transformation, Outside & Offline, Relationships, Intensity, Extraordinary and, finally, Status & Significance.

‘Life unfolds as a chain of subjective experiences … The quality of these experiences determines whether and to what extent life was worth living.’

What’s interesting here is not only that the shape of redemptive stories mirrors the man in hole and hero’s journey shape. What’s really interesting is that people who tend to describe their life through contaminated stories are more likely to be depressed, have lower levels of life satisfaction, and feel that they can’t make a positive contributio

Amartya Sen. Sen says that for people to flourish, they need three things: control, capabilities and social participation.

Then, if you’ve time and inclination, you could follow all seven branches: S: Will this experience give you a story to tell others, or that tells you who you are? T: Will it help you develop, grow, transform? O: Will you be outside and offline? R: Will it bring you closer to others, and enhance your relationships? I: Will it be intense, and launch