31 Days of Happiness
How two activities a day can lead to a better tomorrow

My journey into understanding happiness and Positive Psychology started with the book, “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Anchor. Anchor’s book clearly showed me that the traditional idea that success leads to happiness is backwards. In reality, happiness leads to success. After reading Anchor’s book, I began to understand happiness and the real value it could bring to people in very different terms. Happiness was no longer an abstract concept and I began to see a simple path towards being happier, rooted in Positive Psychology. Because of this, I found myself wanting to learn more about Positive Psychology so I could start moving down that same path.
According to positivepsychology.com, Positive Psychology is “the scientific study of the ‘good life’, or the positive aspects of the human experience that make life worth living”. The emergence of Positive Psychology has resulted in countless experiments/studies that seek to measure changes in a person’s individual happiness after implementing a set of practices. The results have been definitive. It is very possible for just about any person to become happier by integrating specific practices into their daily life. Check out the links to two studies here and here.
As I was learning more and more about Positive Psychology, there were a few basic questions that I had to answer: what is happiness and how can it be measured? Seeking out the answer led me to Martin Seligman. Seligman is credited as being the creator of “Positive Psychology”. He has written several books on the matter, conducted research, developed lessons, and delivered lectures around the world on the benefits of happy people in terms of Positive Psychology. I bring up Seligman because he answered both of my questions in the form of the PERMA model. PERMA is an acronym that breaks down as follows:(here is a link to a detailed breakdown):
P=Positive Emotions
E=Engagement
R=Relationships
M=Meaning
A= Achievements/Accomplishments
These 5 areas of life are the building blocks of happiness. Each area is measured independently with surveys, online assessments, and/or questionnaires.
That’s all good and well. Now that we know what happiness is and that it is possible to change your current level of it…so what? Well for starters, happier people perform better across just about all of their cognitive functions. Being happier can boost a person’s problem-solving capabilities, compassion, engagement, and health outcomes across most aspects of their life. Better cognitive function effectively translates to better performance in the workplace. Check those study here and here. Increased engagement and compassion result in more intimate relationships. Better health outcomes mean more time and energy for the things we care about. So, happiness and being happier, has the capacity to dramatically change multiple areas of your life, in a measurable way.
Given this information, the title of this article may seem a bit less audacious. If you’re wondering whether it can really be that simple to change your current level of happiness, consider this your call to action. Everyone that is interested should complete the following two activities for the entire month of December, 2019:
1.Each day write out a thank you letter to someone in your life that has been a positive influence. Then contact that person and read them the letter/explain why you are thanking them.
2.Each day before going to sleep, write down 3 things that went well in that day and reflect on why those things went well.
Hopefully this sounds interesting and you want to participate. But, in case you want more evidence, here are the two supporting articles(here and here) that demonstrate the results of these positive interventions. The 3 good things activity helps a person identify the positive things happening in their life. The more a person focuses on the positive things in their life, the more a person sees the positive things all around them. The gratitude activity helps because it spreads positivity inside a person’s network including their family, friends, and colleagues. Also being grateful, or expressing gratitude, increases a person’s happiness levels. Benefits from these two activities can be seen in as little as 7 days and those benefits have lasting effects — the studies listed before found that the benefits could even be seen 6 months after the activity was completed.
The goal is to get as many people as possible to participate for the month of December, 2019. My hope is to foster a sense of community that can serve as positive reinforcement. If a person is on the fence and a lot of people around them are participating, that person may consider participating as well. If you want to connect with others that are participating on social media, please use the hashtag #31DOH. That hashtag is short for 31 Days Of Happiness.
For any content creators that want to participate, I have created a video explaining this information. A central part of this event is its accessibility — it’s free. The only cost will be the time investment, about 15 mins a day. Content creators, feel free to use this event to create content for the month, but please do not use these positive interventions as a way to sell anything. Use this engagement to deepen the relationships you have with your audience. If you want an example of how to do this, here is a recommendation. Create a contest in which you choose a follower/subscriber each day that participated in 31DOH, used the hashtag, and commented something on one of your posts. The prize could then be a 5-minute video phone call. This wouldn’t cost you anything (assuming you already have a phone and the infrastructure to make a phone call happen)! If you feel that won’t work for you, I invite you to get creative!
At the end of the day, I am hopeful that we can pull this off. I want to make the world happier, more compassionate, and more effective. I need your help. Please if you believe in this idea, share the videos, this article, or a positive interaction with people. We all have the power to collectively shape a future that shines bright, as bright as the smiles we’ll share in December.
A happier world starts with a happier you.
Let’s get to it.
