The Saad Truth about Happiness summary

Take a moment to think about where you spend the majority of your time. The answer for most people is at work or at home with their partner. It’s for that reason that the first two secrets to happiness are your job and your marriage – or romantic partnership. They’re also two aspects of life that you typically get to choose.

The type of work you do affects your health, from your stress levels to your blood pressure, impacting your day-to-day happiness. And what you accomplish in your career can become the meaningful legacy you leave behind. So, finding a profession that’s fulfilling will bring purpose to your life.

The concept of the golden mean dates back to Aristotle. It suggests that the answer to life’s questions often lies at the midpoint between two extremes. In a word, it means moderation, which is the third secret to happiness. 

You’re probably familiar with the phrase “the happy medium.” It captures the notion of ideal temperance. In fact, many of our most cherished virtues represent just that. Courage is the midpoint between cowardice and recklessness. Prudence, justice, and fortitude are all representative of moderation. Even the seven deadly sins signify the dangers of either excess or deficiency.

The fourth secret to happiness is not taking life too seriously all the time. As many influential thinkers have noted, play is essential for our well-being. 

Many psychologists believe that maintaining a childlike sense of creativity is key to staying inventive throughout life. But it has other important benefits too. Psychologist Peter Gray has identified four key functions of play, all of which foster happiness. First, play teaches us essential survival skills. Second, it helps us respond to negative events with resilience. Third, play fosters creativity and problem-solving. And finally, it encourages friendly cooperation, which is a vital aspect of human sociality.

The fifth secret to happiness is variety. When we engage in a variety of activities, we keep our minds and bodies active, while reducing the risk of boredom and stagnation. But, as we've seen in previous sections, this too requires a delicate balance.

Research suggests that having a diverse range of activities and goals is linked to our well-being. But there's a catch. Pursuing too many activities can backfire, if you end up unfocused and unproductive. Once again, the key is moderation.

We’ve now arrived at the sixth and seventh secrets of happiness. They are, respectively, being persistent in pursuing your goals, while being resilient when faced with failure.

We’ll all experience failure in myriad ways. It’s a natural by-product of working toward meaningful goals. And for that reason, the ability to bounce back from adversity is a fundamental aspect of life. 

The final secret of happiness relates to regret. Regret negatively affects our health and well-being, and increases stress hormones and depression risk in older adults. But you can minimize regret by making decisions that align with who you are and what you want to do in life.

There are different kinds of regrets, each of which arise from different kinds of decisions. Firstly, short-term regrets stem from things we do, then wish we hadn’t. Secondly, long-term regrets arise from inaction and lost opportunities – moments when we wish we’d done something while we had the chance.