Hi Reader,

There’s no shortage of advice out there on how to be happy. You’ll find tips, formulas, and promises everywhere.

One of my articles from earlier this year, Are Happy Project Managers a Myth, has been getting a lot of re-reads lately. Maybe that says something about what people are looking for in their work.

The latest World Happiness Report , just released for International Day of Happiness, ranked Finland as the happiest country in the world for the ninth year in a row.

But is every single person in Finland actually happy? And do the factors used in these rankings really reflect what happiness means for each individual?

Then I came across something simpler a few days ago. In one organization, people were asked a straightforward question: what makes you happy?

The answers were refreshingly human. A dog. The feeling of spring. Supportive colleagues. Helping someone. Good health. A loving partner. Music. Time in nature. A great meal. Being recognized. A good book. A simple thank you. Sunshine.

I didn’t see any of these reflected in the World Happiness Report.

I once read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. In it, she spends a full year trying to become happier, focusing each month on a different set of resolutions she believes will improve her overall well-being. Did it work?

Gretchen says yes, however it wasn’t in big changes but instead she found that small, tangible actions such as "giving warm hellos," and "acting the way I want to feel" yielded the biggest results.

All of this made me pause and think. Do we need to redefine happiness?

Happiness redefined

Shirzad Chamine, who I've written about before in Get Out of Your Own Way, offers an interesting perspective.

He starts with a simple idea. Just as conditional love isn’t really love, happiness can also come with conditions.

This kind of “conditional happiness” is something many of us live with. We move around a baseline. When something good happens, we feel a lift. When something difficult happens, we drop, only to return back to where we started.

In other words, our happiness depends on things going well.

But what if it didn’t have to?

What if happiness isn’t something we wait for, but something we define for ourselves? Something that comes from within rather than from our circumstances?

And if that’s true, it raises an interesting question.

When happiness is not tied to what’s happening around us, it becomes steadier. It becomes something we decide and choose on our own.

Happy projects

So, what does this have to do with managing projects?

Does being internally grounded and positive make you better at managing projects? It certainly can. I’ve worked with my share of grumpy project managers, and they're no fun to be around.

So are happy project managers really a myth?

Maybe the answer is simpler than we think. Happiness is not something a project delivers at the finish line. It's something we bring into the work every day.

And when we do that, it changes more than just how we feel. It changes how we lead, how we collaborate, and ultimately, how happy we feel inside.

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