Myths About Happiness: 10 Beliefs That Do Not Hold Up

In short: a number does not capture how happy you are, money and success are not shortcuts, and happy employees are not automatically productive ones. Read on for the reasons, then test the myths against your own life.

There is little critical thinking about happiness these days. Many self-styled gurus read a few books on happiness and well-being and suddenly seem to know how to manage it. Yet happiness is highly complex, and it starts with accepting that it is personal and has to be worked on person by person. At our latest event on managing happiness, we discussed several myths about happiness. These are the main ones.

The “science of happiness” is a marketing concept

Several scientific disciplines study happiness and have built ways to put numbers on it. But strictly speaking, it makes no sense to talk about a “science of happiness”. Quantification is the wrong tool for a qualitative judgement, yet it is all we have, and policies and actions are built on those numbers. However much people talk about “measuring happiness” or “the science of happiness”, the wording is inappropriate in scientific terms. The science of happiness is just a marketing concept (and a book title), like the science of poker or the science of sleep. You can speak about happiness from psychology, economics, mathematics, sociology and more, but not through the flood of marketing labels that does a disservice to people who end up misled.

Happiness cannot be measured

None of today’s indicators measures happiness. Each one only models it in its own way, often falling into intolerant assumptions. Remember that happiness is personal, and putting a number on something personal is unacceptable in data analysis. Measuring happiness makes about as much sense as measuring love or a taste for yellow. You can track it personally (“I am happier today than yesterday”), but not globally. “My colleague is happier than I am” is fine to say, yet it has no validity as a measurement, since happiness can mean different things to each of you. Many experts also confuse measuring happiness with measuring organizational happiness. Happiness is a personal indicator, and measuring it without universal rules is an oxymoron. Organizational happiness is the familiar workplace-climate indicator in disguise, which industrial and organizational psychology has studied for years. It is not the happiness of people. There is no happiest country in the world and no best company to work for. There are only people living or working in the wrong place. If you still buy into measuring happiness, you will end up taking the next course on measuring love. Read more in can happiness be measured?

Happy employees are not necessarily more productive

Some studies find no link between happy employees, satisfied customers and higher profits (Chun & Davies, 2009), yet people tend to think it is better to work with happy people than unhappy ones (Fisher, 2010). There is also a tendency to believe that everything presented under the “science of happiness” at work is positive. It can have negative effects, though: it can damage relationships with managers, harm relationships with friends and family, and even make a person more selfish (Cederström and Spicer, 2015).

You are not always happy thanks to your brain

And the best reflection of all: however good your skills, and however much self-work you do, happiness is a shared responsibility between employees and the company, or between citizens and their governments. It is easy to turn organizational happiness into a problem of the worker’s willpower and knowledge. Those studies tend to forget that humans are shaped by the group, so their judgements are dynamic and qualitative and form within a shared set of values. In the end happiness is personal, and with methods and tools like those in Happiness Play… we can learn to manage it!

The ten myths in a nutshell

Happiness is a permanent state, or can be reached by having no problems.
The science of happiness exists.
Happiness is reached through success.
Happiness can be found in another person.
Happiness arrives when all your needs are covered.
Happiness can be bought (or, money cannot buy happiness).
There is a happiest country in the world and a best company to work for.
Happiness depends only on each person’s brain and attitude.
Happy employees are more productive.
Happiness can be measured in organizations.

Interested in the myths of happiness? Check yours with your wheel of life

Myths about happiness: quick answers

Is there a happiest country in the world?

Rankings exist, but they average very different people. Our overview of the happiest countries and what the research really says explains what those lists can and cannot tell you.

If happiness is personal, what can I do about it?

Start by looking at your own life: score the eight areas with the free online wheel of life and read how the Autocoaching methodology turns the result into a plan. Teams can do the same with Happiness Play Pro.

If you are a coach, see how to get more coaching clients. For a critical view, read the science of happiness.

Start with how to do a wheel of life or learn how to make a life map: