The BIGG Successs Show
Two Proven Keys to Happiness
We examine scientific research about the happiest place on earth. Find written summary of today's show along with our study resource links at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.
Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today we'll share two proven keys to happiness. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. You'll Mary Lynn, there seems to be a rising call for governments to start tracking something that's kind of hard to track. Happiness. So on top of wealth and everything else? That's right. And you know, it's interesting because economists, of course, talk about that the goal of "rational actors" is to maximize our utility or our happiness over the course of our life. So it's more important to be happy than wealthy? That's what economists say. I thought money could buy you happiness. That's what they say it can't buy. Well, Lester University in England does track happiness. In fact, they've been doing that for the past 30 years. And it's an international scientific happiness survey. And consistently, the country that comes in as the happiest place on earth is Denmark. Denmark. Denmark. Yes. See, now I thought you were going to say Disneyland. One would think. I would. Although after you've spent all the money there, it might depress you a little. Well, so we asked ourselves the question, why? Why is it that Denmark is the happiest place on earth? And one thing we found out is it's definitely not the weather. Because in Copenhagen, summer temperatures average around 68 degrees. That's not bad, I guess. And winter temperatures are either just above or below zero. Now, Maryland, that sounds pretty darn cold to me. It doesn't sound like paradise. And it's not the taxes because they do pay some of the highest taxes in the world. Now, those taxes also pay for some of the highest benefits in the world. But they're paying on a lot to the government. Yeah. And I don't think it's lifestyle or habits because, well, maybe it is, Maryland. I don't know. They say that Danes are very heavy drinkers and smokers. They can smoke indoors still. I guess so. And it can't be the diet because all they eat is herring. Yeah. And that's just my personal taste. But yeah. Well, so there's a lot of theories out there about why Danes are so happy. And I'll tell you, one of my theories is they drink so much that they don't remember whether they're happy or not. Come on. Well, seriously, what we want to do is we want to look at what the research actually says is driving this happiness quotient. And that's coming up. Today we're talking about why Denmark is the happiest place on earth. And there's some research from Professor Christensen right there in Denmark at the University of Southern Denmark. And what he says is he thinks it's because, or he's showing it's because Danes have low expectations. Really? Yeah. So I thought you were supposed to always look on the bright side of life. And that's not the Danes. But he says basically that there's this culture of sort of expecting less. And then when good things happen, you're very happy. So it's really kind of interesting. Remember George, when we were at a seminar that Tony Robbins was hosting, he said if you're not happy, you can either change your conditions or change your expectations. That's right. So what if you don't want to change your expectations? How can you be happy then? Well, that's a good question, Marilyn. And you know, there's some research from a lecturer at Harvard named Talben Shahar. And he shows the number one predictor of happiness actually is relationships. Yes, and Danes are big on relationships because that same study shows that 92% of them belong to some sort of social club. And you think about it, maybe that's why social media is so big on the Internet, you know, because it gives us an opportunity to reach out, make friends. I don't know if they're quality relationships, but hey, it's relationships. Right. Well, I think in a lot of cases they are quality relationships and people are forming fantastic relationships with people all over the world, including a few Danes. And I'll tell you what, every time I run into one of them now, I'm a little bit happier. There we go. You can get a written summary of today's show on our site at Big Success. That's big with 2G's. Success.com. We also have links to all of the studies that we mentioned in the show today. Next time we'll talk about bad money decisions in bad times. Very easy to make. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. [MUSIC]