Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
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Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
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Re: Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
#2He raised interesting questions, but mostly forgot to also supply answers.
Re: Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
#3It's certainly documented that people have a short-term bias in their happiness choices.
However ... I started to listen to tunes on my machine about two months ago and I think I can look back on those two months and say I've been happier and more productive during that time. There are times to turn off the tunes - I never walk around with headphones - but music is cool and the article's argument about lottery tickets won't change that.
Re: Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
#4The question of hedonic bias is more complex than the article indicates. I would recommend Game Theory Evolving by Herbert Gintis. Gintis talks about human short-term bias and hyperbolic discounting and shows that this is often not as "irrational" as it seems (look especially at Chapter 11).
Still it's a great discussion, I'd love to see it much more developed, hopefully the article's author reads here.
Re: Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
#5It's certainly documented that people have a short-term bias in their happiness choices. However ... I started to listen to tunes on my machine about two months ago and I think I can look back on those two months and say I've been happier and more productive during that time. There are times to turn off the tunes - I never walk around with headphones - but music is cool and the article's argument about lottery ticket…
Music is actually a terrible example because it has qualities that change mood and percetion all by itself. Its effecs also vary so widely for individuals as to make comparisons nearly meaningless.
Re: Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
#6It's certainly documented that people have a short-term bias in their happiness choices. However ... I started to listen to tunes on my machine about two months ago and I think I can look back on those two months and say I've been happier and more productive during that time. There are times to turn off the tunes - I never walk around with headphones - but music is cool and the article's argument about lottery ticket…
Music is actually a terrible example because it has qualities that change mood and percetion all by itself. Its effecs also vary so widely for individuals as to make comparisons nearly meaningless.
For individuals? Hell, they vary widely over time as well.