100 Things You Can Do This Year To Be Happier

Happiness

In 2018, Yale cognitive scientist Dr. Laurie Santos started a class called, “Psychology and the Good Life.” The class was an immediate success and quickly became one of the school’s most popular courses. As a matter of fact, nearly 25% of the whole undergraduate student body enrolled the first year the class was offered. Santos later turned her course into a podcast series called “The Happiness Lab,” which has been downloaded more than 64 million times.1

Needless to say, wanting happiness and “The Good Life” is something that’s on just about everyone’s mind and is something we all strive for. But how do we best do it? Well, the subject of “how to be happy” can be a rather difficult one to answer in a single blog post. I think if you want a more in-depth look at happiness there are plenty of great books to read. However, I also feel that being happy isn’t overly complicated either. Sometimes all we need is just a few ideas to get us going.

That being said, we came up with a list of practical ideas of things you can do this year to be happier. We didn’t want to compile just any old list of happiness ideas though. We wanted to base the ideas on proven research-based principles that actually work! While the topic of “how to be happy” is very broad and highly subjective, we started looking to see if there were scientifically proven universal activities that bring happiness.

So we turned to research done by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky who has been researching the topic of happiness for years. She’s written books like “The How of Happiness,” which is a comprehensive guide to understanding the elements of happiness based on years of groundbreaking scientific research. In the book, she lays out 12 activities that are proven to bring happiness that serve as the basis for the ideas we came up with. Dr. Lyubomirsky’s 12 happiness activity areas are as follows:

1. Practicing Acts of Kindness
2. Expressing Gratitude
3. Cultivating Optimism
4. Avoiding Overthinking and Social Comparison
5. Nurturing Social Relationships
6. Developing Strategies for Coping
7. Learning to Forgive
8. Increasing Flow Experiences
9. Savoring Life’s Joys
10. Committing to Your Goals
11. Practicing Religion and Spirituality
12. Taking Care of Your Body (Meditation, Physical Activity, Acting Like a Happy Person)

So, with all of this being said, we came up with some specific and practical ideas of things you could do based on Dr. Lyubomirsky’s 12 activity areas that will help you to be happier. We’ve also lined each of our ideas up sequentially with Dr. Lyubomirsky’s 12 happiness activity areas. While some of these things won’t resonate with everyone, I think you’ll find a few specific things that seem better to you. And don’t be afraid to try something new. Anyways, enough reading. Let’s get to the ideas. Here it goes!

100 Ideas you can do to be happier this year:

Commit to a “day of service,” and pick 5 specific acts of service you wouldn’t normally do.
Serve at your local food bank.
Volunteer at a retirement home.
Serve at a habitat for humanity
Donate blood at a red cross event.
Find other local service opportunities.
Buy someone a well-thought-out gift.
Mow your neighbor’s lawn.
Donate $50 to someone who could use it.
If you have kids, commit to doing one-on-one “Daddy/Mommy Dates.”
Keep a gratitude journal and write in it every day before going to bed.
Send a thank-you note to the most influential people in your life (family, friends, coworkers, teachers, mentors, etc.)
Surprise someone close to you with a “Gratitude Gift” this Thanksgiving. Here are a couple of example ideas:
- Starting in January, make a journal of everything someone special did for you each month leading up to Thanksgiving. Then gift this Journal to them on Thanksgiving.
- Or, reach out to this person’s close acquaintances and have them jot down a thank you note or record a thank you video for you to compile and give to them.
Do a “Thank-a-thon” this November. (Send a thank you video to one person per day from Nov 1st until Thanksgiving)
Read “Peaks and Valleys,” by Spencer Johnson. (A book that teaches you the importance of gratitude in good times and humility in difficult times)
Learn how to reduce your daily stress by reading “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living,” by Dale Carnegie.
Deal with a stressful situation by finding someone to talk to about it.
Learn some breathing techniques to help deal with stress or just help you be more mindful.
If you feel you need professional assistance in your situation, seek help from a therapist. Sometimes you just need to talk things through with a professional.
Don’t like your job? Start working towards getting a new one. Or do some job crafting with your current job.
Make a habit of thinking about the bright side or cultivate a happy thought whenever something difficult happens to you.
Learn to foster a more positive attitude by reading “The Power of Positive Thinking,” by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.
Surround yourself with happy people. People are 4 times more likely to be happy in the future when they have happy people around them.
Commit to a week of only consuming positive news articles and videos.
Give yourself a genuine smile in the mirror each morning.
Commit to no more negative talk about yourself.
Forgive someone who you think has wronged you. And set a date you will do it.
Forgive yourself for a mistake you’ve made in the past.
Find ways to avoid “keeping up with the Joneses.” (Most likely extra and fancier non-essentials won’t contribute to long-term happiness)
Learn about the importance of being mindful in the present, by reading “The Present,” by Spencer Johnson.
Go to a park by yourself to just think or people-watch.
Try a “Quiet Day” and don’t talk the entire day. Just observe and think.
Identify one new thing each day during your daily commute that you hadn’t noticed before.
Try a different method of transportation for your daily commute.
Break up your commuting routine by taking an alternate route back home.
Talk with some friends, or go on walks during lunch breaks.
Go a day without any technology.
Then, if you can do a day without tech, set a goal to go a week without it (outside of technology you may use for your employment, of course)
Read this article about how having a social life may actually help you live longer.
Do a movie night with friends. Click here to get some specific movie ideas.
Commit to a date a week with your significant other (or someone you want to be your significant other 🙂) Use the same site for loads of random date ideas.
Go dancing or to a social event.
Read some books on how to improve your interpersonal communication. One of my personal favorites is “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie.
Take an out-of-state vacation with family and/or friends.
Or, just take a “staycation.” Sometimes you don’t necessarily have to leave to take a break from a monotonous routine.
Meet your neighbors.
Go Geocaching with a friend.
Schedule time to have regular meet-ups with friends and/or non-immediate family members.
Take time to repair a broken relationship with someone who was close to you. (Serving them oftentimes is one of the best ways to start it out)
Take the time to strengthen your current relationship with your spouse. (Remember love is a verb, not just a feeling)
Ditch bad influences from both your social media profiles and those in your non-digital life.
Strive to have more deep, in-person, and meaningful conversations. Use texting as a last resort.
Launch a new side hustle or business.
Set a goal to get a work promotion this year, then go get it.
Invest in your education/learning. This could be something like a college degree, going to a trade school, a coding boot camp, or something smaller like a YouTube course on a topic that interests you.
Find a new passion.
Go horseback riding.
Learn what motivates people by watching this video.
Learn a new sport, like golf, pickleball, Spikeball, snowboarding/skiing, etc.
Learn a new musical instrument.
Or, master a musical instrument you already know.
Learn a foreign language.
Start a YouTube channel about a passion you currently have.
Or, if you don’t like creating videos, start a blog about something you care about.
Write your autobiography, no matter what your age is.
Write a novel.
Do something new that excites you. Maybe skydiving?
Set a goal to retire early.
Set a goal to land your dream job.
Get married and/or start a family.
Make a video that goes viral.
Make your own music album.
Set a goal to pay off your consumer debt.
Set a goal to pay off your mortgage early.
Set a goal to become financially independent.
Take on some home improvement projects.
Commit to praying/meditating regularly.
Commit to reading scriptures/spiritual texts regularly.
Commit to living your religion.
Donate time or money to a charity or cause you care about.
Make time to ponder for 10 minutes at the end of each day.
Learn to master your mind.
Learn to meditate, then commit to doing it for two weeks.
Read “Think Like a Monk,” by Jay Shetty.
Download a mindfulness meditation app. There are lots of great ones out there. My personal favorite is Headspace.
Take a painting/drawing class or anything that teaches you to be creative.
When you eat, do it mindfully. Taste and savor the flavors.
Use laughter as a moody medicine. A good chuckle releases lots of neurotransmitters and there are loads of benefits to laughter.
Use the power of music. Researchers have found that music can match the anxiety-reducing effects of massage therapy.
Learn about the importance of exercise by watching this video.
Get a step/fitness tracker and set some fitness goals.
Commit to at least 3 cardio exercises each week.
Walk a mile per day.
Run a 5K.
Feeling more ambitious than a 5K, set a goal to do a half, then a full marathon.
Join a recreation sports league.
Get your annual health checkup.
Set a goal to bike a certain amount of miles during the remainder of the year.
Find a personal trainer and learn how to improve your exercise routine. Or, just find someone on YouTube to learn from.
Commit this quote to memory: “Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. – Guillaume Apollinaire

Conclusion

As I’m sure you know, happiness is not an achievement, but a continuous journey. The habits you form and the effort you exert along the way is what matters and will help you reap the rewards you initially sowed for. I’m sure you’ll also find that despite your best efforts, learning how to be consistently happy, both in the short and long term, can be much easier said than done. But I think you’ll find that the effort is well worth it.

Dr. Lyubomirsky mentions in her research that happy people experience benefits like being more productive and creative, they often make more money, are more likely to be hired, have more fulfilling relationships, have more friends, and tend to be healthier. I don’t know about you, but in reading this list I feel the rewards definitely outweigh the effort it takes to be happy.

Having a happier life is within your grasp and is something in your circle of influence. Researchers say that 50% of happiness comes from genetics and 10% comes from external factors. But that remaining 40%? That’s all up to you.

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Sources: 1 Yale’s Happiness Professor Says Anxiety Is Destroying Her Students