What can Dilbert teach us about happiness?

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Dilbert creator Scott Adams listed his tips for happiness and I was surprised how much they lined up with the research. Links included below to show the connections.

Via Dilbert blog:

Food – “…I suspect that anger is evolution’s way of telling you to go kill something so you can eat.

Exercise – “…If you think of exercise in its usual way, as one component of health, or as a way to lose weight, it’s easy to skip your hour at the gym. If you think of it as the difference between a good day and a bad day, it’s easier to make it a priority.”

Goals – “I make it a habit to have at least one project brewing at all times that has a non-zero chance of changing the planet, or making a billion dollars, or both.  Creating Dilbert was just one out of several dozen projects of that nature.”

Meaning – “If you’re young and you haven’t yet achieved some level of success by your own standards, by all means make yourself your own first priority… If you reach a more comfortable level, you’ll find you need to be useful to others in order to find meaning and feel right in your own skin.”

Positivity – “The self-help gurus will tell you it’s important to have an ongoing positive dialog with yourself. Lots of books have been written on this topic. All I will add is that you might be completely unaware of how negative you are… Now I make it a practice to think or say something positive immediately after I let slip a negative comment. Saying positive things puts your mind into a positive state. And when you become that guy, you attract positive relationships and positive outcomes.”

A Little Bit of Danger – “I don’t recommend taking physical risks. But you’ll feel more alive if you make it a habit to try new things, even if those things scare you a bit.”

Learn – “Feed your brain. The more active your brain is, the more alive you will feel.”

Feel Success – “Make it a habit to often do things you do well…Doing one thing well gives your ego some armor to handle all of the little things that don’t go quite so well during the week.”

Relationships – “It’s hard to be happy if you don’t have whatever sorts of relationships in your life that work for you.”

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