The Quest for Intention: The Happiness Equivalent of a Battle-Axe

If you are not familiar with the latest on happiness research and are interested, consider happiness researcher, professor, and bestselling author Sonja Lyubomirsky’s, The How of Happiness, which delves deeply in how all of us can live happier lives through research-based findings, much of which she has dedicated her working life to. For me, one of the most compelling studies highlighted in the book (and mentioned in countless other happiness books) is the study of Minnesota identical twins reared apart, produced by Thomas Bouchard. The study of identical twins (same DNA) that were reared apart (different environmental factors), ultimately helped psychologists conclude that there were three factors that contributed to an individual’s happiness: genetics, circumstances, and intention. With these factors in mind, envision that your maximum capacity happiness score is somewhere between 0-100, and each of these factors are tallied to result in a total score. This implies that we may not all have the same capacity for happiness, which is true, but the important thing to remember is that we can still improve our overall score when we specifically focus on areas where improvement is within our control.

While researchers cannot be completely precise in their attribution of these factors on our overall happiness, the general view is that our genetics contribute approximately 50% of our total happiness. This means that the DNA we were handed down from our parents informs about half of our happiness capacity. This does not mean you will be a clone of your parents and their sundry behaviors and idiosyncrasies (think the latest Progressive commercials where the life coach helps you avoid turning into your parents), but rather that their genes greatly contribute to your capacity to be happy in a biological sense (e.g., your brain’s ability to readily produce neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which make us feel good). After establishing the genetics attribution, researchers further determined that circumstances impact our capacity to be happy by only around 10%. While most people tend to dwell on negative circumstances and some might argue they have greater impact than the research suggests, numerous studies demonstrate individual resilience to even the most challenging life circumstances, leading psychologists to believe that circumstances are less impactful (long-term) to our capacity to be happy, particularly when we move beyond Maslow’s lowest hierarchy of needs (food, shelter, air, sleep, etc.).

That leaves the third factor, intention, which psychologists believe informs the remaining 40% of our capacity for happiness. This is probably the most significant discovery in one’s personal pursuit of happiness, because unlike the aforementioned factors, genetics and circumstances, we have absolute control as to whether we live intentional lives or not. This finding has effectively provided a roadmap to a more fulfilling life. Intention is the single best weapon one can wield to find more day-to-day fulfillment – think of it as your personal happiness battle-axe! Thus, if there was ever a compelling reason to commit to a business plan or pre-plan a vacation or to schedule some focus time on Sunday to plan the week ahead, these findings are essentially screaming to you – do it, you won’t regret it! Practically speaking, most of us understand when we plan or put out an intention, we are far likelier to achieve better results, and as a result we are more likely to be happy or fulfilled. Goal pioneers Gary Latham and Edwin Locke concluded in their own studies that human performance was improved by 11-25% through goal setting. Again, this is intuitive for most of us who feel a true sense of accomplishment simply crossing off the last item on a weekend to do list or parsing through value propositions carefully for a business pitch before simply showing up. So, if we know it’s working, why not drive more intentional living into all areas of our lives?

One reason that it is hard to live with intention, is that our brains are prone to autopilot. In fact, one study at Duke University concluded that more than 40% of the actions people performed weren’t actual decisions, but habits established by our daily routines, routines repeated over and over again until our brain more or less assumes we’d like to continue the pattern. Isn’t that alarming? The single biggest factor in our control for us to maximize our happiness, intention, is already under attack by our brain’s predisposition to simply default to autopilot, making it more difficult for us to change our already rooted behaviors. That means it’s difficult to change what we eat, where we eat, how we react to stress, and just about anything else that we’d like to improve, especially when we have established a patterned response in these areas. This is one of the reasons why lasting change is so elusive – we need to overcome the reflexive response repeatedly until we create a new response and break the old habit. Neuroscientists believe that the brain establishes new neural pathways (new reactions to the same stimulus) over a span of roughly three weeks, assuming the pattern is actively repeated over that time. In other words, if you want to react better to stressful events or change your diet, you need to actively redirect those neural pathways to the new reaction/choice over a three-week period, repeating as often as possible.

We do this through setting intentions and thoughtfully thinking through what we want out of our lives or what we’d like to change. When we have a general sense of direction, we move to near term goals and supporting behaviors. Latham and Locke promoted SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) as being the most effective path to achieving our goal, and studies show that the more detailed and specific we can be, the better. I tend to view this as a two-step process. First, we need to embrace the larger overarching vision or the ‘why’ for the goal or change. Is it pure or is it something someone else placed into our consciousness? Once we are comfortable that it is pure, we then need to layout the roadmap. For example, if we want to lose 20 pounds, we initially want to establish the why, which should include a primary reason (e.g., I want to live longer with my friends and family) and then supporting reasons (losing the weight will: 1) allow me to be more mobile; 2) reduce my blood pressure; 3) make me feel better about myself; 4) set a better example for my children; 5) give me more energy; 6) take pressure off my joints, etc., etc.). Then we start the practical outline of supporting habits and initiatives to help us reach the larger vision (e.g., 1) I am going to better understand healthy foods; 2) I am going to pre-plan my meals with healthier foods/places in mind; 3) I am going to exercise 1 hour a day; 3) I am going to drink water before all meals; 4) I am going to reduce my ice cream consumption to one night; 5) I am going to avoid drinking more than 2 alcoholic beverages on any given day, etc., etc.). From there, you can even provide more supporting behaviors and habits under each of these subheadings, again developing an outline that supports your vision.

In closing, it’s important to be patient with yourself. When we understand the science, we have a clear path to improving our overall happiness, but we know it takes consistent reinforcement of the why and the new behaviors before they become rooted in as our new normal. If you can remain persistent, you will see change in your life and be able to continually build on those changes. You will also become more willing to set new goals and intentions because you will experience firsthand the benefits of doing so. Like most things in life, as you exercise these skills, you will sharpen them, and as a result, change will come easier for you. Use your battle-axe!