In my last post, I mentioned what helped me get through my severe Postpartum Depression in 2016/17. I am so thankful an online acquaintance invited me to join a Facebook group dedicated to cultivating happiness in 2017. I came to refer to it as my Project Happy.
The exercise draws from Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book The How of Happiness. Confession: I never actually read the book. But I love the actionable steps it outlined as conveyed to me.
The website sells the concepts of the book as offering “a comprehensive guide to understanding what happiness is, and isn’t, and what can be done to bring us all closer to the happy life we envision for ourselves. Using more than a dozen uniquely formulated happiness-increasing strategies, The How of Happiness offers a new and potentially life-changing way to understand our innate potential for joy and happiness as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives.
“Beginning with a short diagnostic quiz that helps you to first quantify and then to understand what she describes as your ‘happiness set point,’ Lyubomirsky reveals that this set point determines just 50 percent of happiness while a mere 10 percent can be attributed to differences in life circumstances or situations. This leaves a startling, and startlingly underdeveloped, 40 percent of our capacity for happiness within our power to change.
“Lyubomirsky’s happiness strategies introduce you to the concept of intentional activities, mindful actions that you can use to achieve a happier life.”
The Project Happy takes those 12 happiness strategies and divides them into 12 monthly action plans. Giving myself a monthly objective to work towards really helped me get out of my own head of depression and anxiety. Here is the process I followed.
The Subjective Happiness Scale
I began the year by determining my score on the subjective happiness scale. This simple 4 question assessment serves as a benchmark to see how well the project works. My goal was to have a higher score at the end of the 12-months than I started with.
Building Your Schedule
To determine which happiness strategy to focus on each month, use the Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic. Based on the activities that already bring you the most fulfillment, the diagnostic recommends which strategies to continue pursuing.
This helped me develop a calendar to follow for the rest of the year. While I started this project in January, you can start it at any point in the year. Remember the goal is to increase your happiness NOW.
My monthly schedule looked like this:
- January – Committing to Your Goals
- February – Nurturing Relationships
- March – Increasing Flow Experiences
- April – Developing Strategies for Coping
- May – Learning to Forgive
- June – Avoiding Overthinking and Social Comparison
- July – Practicing Acts of Kindness
- August – Savoring Life’s Joys
- September – Practicing Religion and Spirituality
- October – Taking Care of Your Body
- November – Cultivating Optimism
- December – Expressing Gratitude
Develop an Action Plan
Taking the 4 weeks in each month, I worked through the following steps to see this strategy was effective for improving my happiness.
Week 1
Establish my how. Turning to Pinterest I would look for resources to implement that month’s strategy. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’d also search on JW.org.
For instance, searching “coping strategies” returned the article You Can Cope With Stress! which includes 11 techniques to try.
I’d finish the first week by choosing 2 methods of applying the happiness strategy in the coming weeks.
Weeks 2 & 3
The second week is for testing the first method I chose. If that was working well for me and I enjoyed it, then I’d stick to it for week 3.
If I thought I could still use a little help, I would move on to the second method I chose in week 1.
Week 4
In the last week of the month, continue whichever method is working for you. I would set aside time to journal what I learned throughout the month and reflect on what I’d want to keep or discard from my life.
This is the process I would follow for each month and strategy. By the end of the year, I had a firm understanding of what brought me more happiness and what wasn’t my cup of tea.
Project Happy really did work and I still rave that 2017 was my happiest year yet. And that was despite some major life stressors like buying a house, losing a job, and starting a new business.
Tips For Accomplishing Your Own Project Happy
- Find an accountability buddy to check in with each week. This was a very helpful aspect of the Facebook group and has made a big difference in my attempts since.
- Create a Pinterest board dedicated to saving anything helpful, inspirational, or motivational you find. Having all the tools and ideas I wanted to work on each month in one place was super helpful when life hit busy seasons in the year.
- Journal, journal, journal. This can be simple pen & paper, digital format like the Evernote app, or even artistic. Sonja Lyubomirsky recommends journaling in almost every one of her strategies.
- Personalize how you approach each strategy. This is just the monthly schedule I used. Having a clear plan for personal growth each month is the key. But it is important to focus on what works for YOU. That is what’s so great about Project Happy . Tailor and adapt it to fit your needs so you can find your happiest self.
- Join the Project Happy Circle community on Patreon where we work together through this process utilizing the power of peer support and group coaching.
