In pursuit of happiness

So here goes with my first blog entry... On a theme of ‘keep learning'.

The US Declaration of Independence cites ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ as unalienable human rights. But what is it that really makes us happy?

A friend showed me a great ‘TED talks’ presentation last night – UK Statistician Nic Marks argues that happiness is a natural human aspiration - we all want happiness for ourselves, our families and our communities - yet ironically statisticians don’t measure happiness. Our dominant measures of ‘progress’ are built around what we can produce. Nic outlines the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use. He suggests that in the same way that we should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, there are five ways to wellbeing (that don’t have to cost the earth) and guess what... one of the 5 is keep learning. They are:

• Connect: invest time in your social relationships 
• Be active: it’s the fastest way out of a bad mood 
• Take notice: be aware of what’s going on around you 
• Keep learning: it doesn’t have to be formal learning, stay curious 
• Give: altruism makes us feel good 

Employee engagement is often seen as a key benefit of learning. But perhaps we should be thinking of learning as a way of making employees happier?

I passionately believe that we are all happier when we keep learning.