For years, I’ve quoted J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye: “Happiness is a solid. Joy is a liquid.” I love that it distills the difference between these two words: one is extrinsic (circumstantial) and one is intrinsic (comes from within). The U.S. is obsessed with happiness (as evidenced by the Declaration of Independence, which suggests happiness is to be pursued on a treadmill), but isn’t as acquainted with joy.
Part of the reason I started a boutique hotel company named Joie de Vivre was to amplify the value of joy. Our corporate mantra was “Create Joy” and we even threw a Joy Party for all the Joys in the state of California twenty years ago (you can read more about it HERE).
So, you can imagine my joy when I saw the Harvard Business Review publish a recent article on How the Busiest People Find Joy. Here’s a summary:
Joy, along with achievement and meaningfulness, is one of the three keys to a satisfying life. Yet it’s the missing piece for many ambitious individuals, the authors found after examining data on how nearly 2,000 professionals spend their days. Jam-packed schedules are a factor, their research showed, because people experience more joy during their limited free time than while working or doing household chores. Interestingly, however, what people did with their extra time was more important than how many hours of it they had. The authors uncovered five strategies that will help you get more out of your free time: (1) Engage with others. Sharing experiences amplifies joy. (2) Avoid passive pursuits. The more time you spend on active ones, the more satisfied you’ll be with your life. (3) Follow your passions. Doing what you find personally rewarding delivers significantly more benefits than doing things that typically are considered “good for you.” (4) Diversify your activities. Variety—not depth—boosts happiness. (5) Protect your free time. Don’t let work encroach on it; if you use it wisely, your well-being and job engagement will both increase, and you’ll actually get more value out of your work.
Here’s a revelation from the study: Pursuits that align with what you find personally rewarding will boost your life satisfaction four times more than activities that are considered generally good for the typical person. In short, following your heart in your free time is the most powerful path to fulfillment. Imagine Marie Kondo for your time. Throw away the activities that don’t spark joy and savor those that do.
And, here’s how the article finishes:
Though many of our interviewees experienced this phenomenon, the comments of Jane stuck with us. “Before, I never made room for fun because I thought it was a distraction from my goals,” she admitted. “But after the layoff forced me to slow down, I discovered that allowing myself to feel more joy gives me patience and more energy to tackle challenges in my life. Now I don’t feel guilty when I take an hour for myself to recharge. I know doing this genuinely makes me even better at my job.”
Free time is scarce for many working professionals, but it’s still possible to maximize the happiness you get from it by protecting it, following personal passions while prioritizing variety, and seeking social and active experiences. You don’t need to find more hours in the day or sacrifice your drive for meaning and achievement. To create a more satisfying life, you just need to find more sparks of joy in the limited leisure time you already have.
If joy interests you, check out the upcoming book Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half, an alternative way to look at lifespan and healthspan.
And, finally, here’s a poem translated by Maria Popova (creator of The Marginalian):
A DEFENSE OF JOY
by Mario Benedetti
Defend joy like a trench
defend it from scandal and routine
from misery and misers
from truancies passing
and permanent
defend joy as a principle
defend it from bewilderments and bad dreams
from the neutral and the neutron
from sweet infamies
and grave diagnoses
defend joy like a flag
defend it from lightning and melancholy
from the fools and the frauds
from rhetoric and ruptures of the heart
from the endemic and the academic
defend joy as a destiny
defend it from fire and firefighters
from suicides and homicides
from vacations and ruts
from the obligation to be joyful
defend joy as a certainty
defend it from rust and smut
from the famous patina of time
from dew and exploitation
by the pimps of laughter
defend joy as a right
defend it from God and winter
from uppercase and the casket
from surnames and the pity
of chance
and of joy too.
-Chip
P.S. Speaking of joy trending, my friend Hoda Kotb has launched her new app Joy101 that you ought to check out. And, for those of you who didn’t catch Hoda on my podcast, here’s a link to the episode.