Time to be happy

Posted on Mon, 22 Nov 10

Most people associate money with happiness however thinking about money frequently is likely to make you less happy by causing you to work more and spend less time with loved ones. To increase the richness of your life experience it is time, not money that should be your focus.

In a series of surveys and experiments examining the effect of focusing attention on money or time it was found that people who focused on money, no matter how much they had, were more likely to work more and socialize less. As investigator Cassie Mogilner from the University of Pennsylvania commented “passing the hours working (although productive) does not translate into greater happiness.”

On the other hand focusing on time motivated people “to spend more time with friends and family and less time working; behaviours that are associated with greater happiness.”

Increasingly long work hours decrease happiness by cutting into time that could be spent with romantic partners, friends, and family. “Simply increasing the relative salience of time (vs. money) can nudge someone to spend that extra hour at home rather than at the office, there finding greater happiness” says Cassie.

Reference:

Mogilner C. The pursuit of happiness: time, money, and social connection. Psychol Sci. 2010 Sep;21(9):1348-54.