Teens having a good time volunteering.
In 1938, Harvard researchers embarked on a decades-long study to discover what makes people happy. They followed 724 people from around the globe and had them fill out detailed questions about their lives every two years. The study yielded many incredible insights into how people can live lives filled with joy and happiness.
Recently, the study’s director, Robert Waldinger, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, shared some of the big lessons from the study on the “A Bit of Optimism” podcast hosted by Simon Sinek. At the show's beginning, Sinek asked Waldinger what happy people know at a very young age.
“A lot of them care about making a difference in the world, and they care about the world,” Waldinger said. “And the people who stay with that, who they may not be the same purpose through their lives, but the people who stay with that aspiration, I think staying engaged in life and I think that's what they get right.”
Some young people joining a cause.via Canva/Photos
Waldinger added that people can find this happiness as they age by adopting a “generativity” mindset. Generativity was a concept created by groundbreaking psychologist Erik Erikson. In 1950, Erikson postulated that in middle age, people should develop "a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation." If not, they are in a stage of stagnation that involves being self-involved and disinterested in productivity or improving the self.
“One of his stages he called generativity versus stagnation, and the generativity was wanting to be part of something bigger than yourself realizing, ‘Oh, I want to help raise kids, or I want to mentor people.’ Or, ‘I want to do something that's not just me.’ He said that [those people] become the people who are going to look back on their lives with less regret with more of a sense that ‘my life was good enough,’” Waldinger continued.
However, Waldinger stresses that it has become harder for people to be involved in things greater than themselves. This stems from societal changes that have de-emphasized the importance of long-term employment with the same company, organized religion, and community organizations. He claims that the digital revolution has accelerated the increase in social isolation.
A middle-aged man mentoring people. via Canva/Photos
“And what he's found is that it's gotten worse since the digital revolution,” Waldinger says. “The digital revolution has accelerated the trends that were already there, and so, the path of least resistance now is social isolation, greater and greater isolation, and we’re all kinda desperate for what do about it and how to feel like we belong.”
The big takeaway from Waldinger’s interview is that when people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves in their youth, they tend to feel that way throughout the rest of their lives. This helps foster a life of meaning that is also filled with one of the most essential contributors to happiness: close relationships. Wouldn’t it be great if people took this valuable insight and made it a big part of how we nurture children? If the key to happiness is to be a part of something greater than yourself, let’s teach our kids to find that passion so it can carry them through their lives.
A photo of Peyton and Simon, already in love.
