Almost everyone wants to be happier. But unfortunately the things that make us happy today become habitual and lose their ability to lift our moods – a phenomenon called hedonic adaptation.
Gratitude exercises can often help us to overcome this adaptation. But there’s an even more powerful technique for increasing happiness discovered by Dr Jaime L. Kurtz. I describe her research below.
She got together 67 students from the University of Virginia who were about 6 weeks away from graduating. She divided them into three groups.
One group was to write about why they are grateful for various college experiences given that they have “a lot of time left.”
Another group was told to write why they are grateful for various college experiences given that they have “little time left.”
A third control group was told to write about what they do on a typical day.
At the end of the study the group that wrote about gratitude from the perspective of having little time left was happier.
Why?
One reason may be that they savored the remaining experience of college more. Another reason may be even more powerful. They actually engaged in more college activities during those final weeks.
Kurtz concluded that thinking that those last 6 weeks was a short time caused them to have a “now or never” mindset. So they spent more time with friends and did more activities because they knew they wouldn’t get a chance later. In short, the lived the end of their college life to the fullest.
And this may be why they were so much happier than the other groups.
So to increase your enjoyment of life experiences focus on the fact that they will one day end. Think about how little time you have left to do something and not only will you appreciate it more, but you may take actions that you’d regret not having taken later on.
So since this is the end of this post, and the end of me posting every day for the Thirty Day Blog Challenge, why not leave me a comment. You might be glad you did.
Reference to study above:
Psychological Science 2008 Dec;19(12):1238-41.
Looking to the future to appreciate the present: the benefits of perceived temporal scarcity. Kurtz JL.
5 replies to "A Scientifically Proven Technique That Causes You To Live Life To The Fullest"
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My personal preference, and a known-good technique for me (I won’t pretend to know what works for anyone else), is to simply dive into whatever it is I am doing right NOW.
I appreciate the likely increase in a sense of the preciousness of time embued by starting with “I have so little time left,” but it also leaves me sad to look at the calendar and realize most of my days are behind me.
Of course, that’s not true for colleges students in the grand scheme of things. They may be about to close out one chapter as the subjects of the research project were, but their adult lives are ahead.
Rick,
Thank you for your comment. I think diving in to what you are doing in the present is definitely a good idea. There are others that that say it works for them so you’re not alone.
I also agree with you that it can be sad to think of how little time is left. They actually found in the research quoted above that thinking about time being short initially did not improve mood. It did cause them to take more action so they took advantage of what was left of their college careers. This made them much happier and I think that’s what counts.
One way of using this knowledge is to think about the endings of episodes in one’s life, not necessarily one’s entire life. For example, if you have relatives visiting for 2 weeks. You can think of those two weeks as a short time, and that may cause you to deal with them differently. Or if you are on vacation, and you think of it as a short time, you may find yourself more motivated to get what you really wanted to get out of it sooner rather than later.
This technique seems to clarify people’s values for them so they act on them sooner than they otherwise would.
Thanks again for commenting,
Rodney
I’m tired of my current job & career, but I think it’ll take me at least a year to be ready to make a move. I’ve been dreading continuing to go to this job after I’ve decided I’m done with it. This approach will help me to savor my final year with my colleagues, my handy commute, my pleasant office, and the other aspects of my job that I still enjoy. Thanks — this makes me feel better already!
I’m glad that this is helping you to enjoy your final year with your colleagues.
Thanks for commenting.
Rodney