Happiness

A long while ago I realized the three things in a "job" I would need to be happy: enough money to eat whatever I want (smoked salmon, orange bell peppers etc), a flexible schedule and most importantly challenging work. This is why academics is perfect for me and I can do my 50-90 hour work weeks and feel great! Now on top of this criteria I had come up with some other conditions about my work: short commute and I must have a "boss" I respect (another reason to stay in academics). The commute part is very important to me since I very much dislike commuting in general but the cost of living near work can sometimes be very high. It turns out my experience was correct though and is now scientifically verified: long commutes are a good way for unhappiness as you can see in this interview (link near the bottom of the page).

It turns out (and there are other articles in sciam and sciammind about this) that it is the small everyday things that will make or break your happiness. If there are plenty of little things in the day you get to do that you like, you'll be happy even if you never take a dream vacation to some poor beach country. Good thing too since I dislike most traveling, Id rather take the dog for a run in the park and then spend the money on a good book. What I have never understood is how people can do 2 hours of commute a day (1 hour each way), which was the average in the suburb which I grew up in, since you are only awake 16 hours and need 8 hours to work, 2 hours to eat leaving only about 6 hours of effective "free" time. Two hours is 33% of that! No wonder people feel rushed and that's not counting the decompression time after the travel. But then humans are not usually rational and so they never think about these things. Plus there is one major caveat: happiness is largely "programmed." Most people are born with a certain innate "happiness" and only fluctuate marginally around it, although even an initially happy person can eventually be worn down by things.