Bob Carlson

I spend most of my time helping people to increase their financial freedom and independence. That should lead to a greater level of happiness. But I periodically have to remind people that money doesn’t automatically lead to happiness, and I present research on that. Here are some quick takes.

One way to increase happiness is to avoid comparing yourself to others. Apparently those who try to “keep up with the Joneses” aren’t very happy. They never have enough.

Here’s one you might not believe at first: Make yur . What it really means is thatv most people are happier when their outer or visible worlds are orderly.

Here’s another that summarizes a lot of research on happiness, meaningfulness, and related issues.

5) Time spent with other people was connected to both happiness and meaningfulness. Time spent with loved ones was important to meaning but irrelevant to happiness.

Feeling connected to others was linked independently to both, as was thinking that others feel connected to oneself. Recalling hours spent alone, and predicting future hours spent alone, had significant negative correlations with both happiness and meaningfulness. Frequency of spending time with friends was positively related to happiness and fell just short of a positive correlation with meaning. Percent time spent with loved people was significant with meaning, but surprisingly irrelevant to happiness, possibly because loved ones can be difficult at times. People with more meaningful lives also agreed that “relationships are more important than achievements,” and that item was unrelated to happiness, though it was in the same positive direction and therefore the item did not meet our criteria for inclusion.

Our focus most of the time is on the financial aspects of retirement and planning for it. But there’s an ultimate goal involved. Yes, we want financial security and freedom. But the ultimate goal is to be happy or satisfied. That’s why periodically I report on surveys of people’s happiness and what makes people happy. Money and financial security don’t bring happiness or a successful retirement. Other things do, and we can’t lose sight of that.

This article is well worth reading on that front. It points out that pursuing happiness and trying to be happy are futile exercises and likely to lead to unhappiness. Instead it relies on Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and works along that line. The conclusion is that people need purpose to be happy. Money and material things aren’t terribly relevant when a person has a purpose. That’s the great failure in many retirement plans. It explains why people go back to work after retiring when they don’t need the money, and why others simply are unhappy and deteriorate in retirement. They fail to plan what they will do what their days and, importantly, what their purpose will be. It also explains why for many people losing a job is an emotionally devastating event. It’s not so much the loss of income as the loss of purpose and the difficulty in re-establishing purpose.

In 1991, the Library of Congress and Book-of-the-Month Club listed Man’s Search for Meaning as one of the 10 most influential books in the United States. It has sold millions of copies worldwide. Now, over twenty years later, the book’s ethos — its emphasis on meaning, the value of suffering, and responsibility to something greater than the self — seems to be at odds with our culture, which is more interested in the pursuit of individual happiness than in the search for meaning. “To the European,” Frankl wrote, “it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to ‘be happy.’ But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to ‘be happy.’”

According to Gallup , the happiness levels of Americans are at a four-year high — as is, it seems, the number of best-selling books with the word “happiness” in their titles. At this writing, Gallup also reports that nearly 60 percent all Americans today feel happy, without a lot of stress or worry. On the other hand, according to the Center for Disease Control, about 4 out of 10 Americans have not discovered a satisfying life purpose. Forty percent either do not think their lives have a clear sense of purpose or are neutral about whether their lives have purpose. Nearly a quarter of Americans feel neutral or do not have a strong sense of what makes their lives meaningful. Research has shown that having purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chances of depression. On top of that, the single-minded pursuit of happiness is ironically leaving people less happy, according to recent research. “It is the very pursuit of happiness,” Frankl knew, “that thwarts happiness.”

Baby Boomers are the most depressed adult age group in the country, says an article in The Atlantic. The article focuses on women, but what it says applies to men, though it says women have more depression thanmen. Baby Boomers women shouldn’t be depressed, because they’ve been a special generation. Women, in particular, had more opportunities than previous generations of women. They should be satisfied and happy and looking forward to happy, healthy seniors years. But that isn’t the case.

The baby boomers are becoming characterized by startlingly high rates of depression and pessimism. Boomers are more depressed and less satisfied with their lives than both those who are older and younger than them, according to a study published in the American Sociological Review in 2008.

Women, in particular, are suffering. In the American population generally, women tend to be more depressive than men, and this is true of the boomers as well. In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1999 and 2004, rates of suicide increased by 20 percent for 45-to-54-year-olds, a far greater increase than that experienced in nearly every other age group. Among women who were 45-to-54-year-olds, the increase was a staggering 31 percent. Suicide aside, boomers have found another way to cope with their doldrums: according to the National Institute of Health, between 2002 and 2011, the number of illicit drugs users aged 50 to 59 tripled.

There’s no reason for the Baby Boomers to be depressed in retirement or their senior years. They only need to look at previous generations of retirees and learn from them. We’ve discussed the important factors in detail in past issues of Retirement Watch, and they haven’t changed.

For a successful retirement, you need several features. You need to stay active and engaged in activities. Retirement doesn’t mean sitting around doing nothing. Instead of staying at the same job or career, you can be involved in volunteer activities, school, church, or a part-time job, for just a few examples. You also need a community where you are socially engaged and involved. This is very important. It can be just a few close friends with whom you regularly interact, or it can be a larger group or several groups. Finally, learn to accept and revel in the post-middle-age years. One theory is that many of the depressed people are pining for their youth or mourning over missed expectations.

[B]anish the thought of “retirement.” The women Cole spoke to, she said, are engaged as ever and doing meaningful work—whether volunteering, being with their grand kids, or working for pay. Just because you’re eligible for Medicare and Social Security doesn’t mean that you should stop working.

To understand the importance of this, consider the case of Okinawa, Japan, one of the world’s “Blue Zones,” the world’s densest clusters of centenarians where the elderly have been remarkably successful at aging. Okinawa has the largest percentage of female centenarians in the world. In the U.S., there are 10-20 centenarians per 100,000 people; in Okinawa, there are 50 per 100,000, and 90 percent of them are women. The centenarians have one fifth the rate of certain cancers and heart disease, which kill 75 percent of Americans over 65.

In Okinawa, as in other Blue Zones, the idea that the elderly retreat into idleness in the mid-sixties, becoming dependents, is anathema. Rather, they are governed by a principle called Ikigai, rougly translated as the reason they wake up in the morning—their purpose.

People often ask me ow I am able to do so many things. I do the newsletter (both the content and the business aspects), write books, do some public service, and some other things. The short answer is that it’s easy. You only need to be organized, focused, and disciplined. There are easy steps anyone can take to be more organized and accomplish more things.

Robert Pozen, who once was a key executive at Fidelity Investments, has a new book on the subject, Extreme Productivity. Even if you don’t buy the book, you’ll benefit from reading his interview in The Washington Post. He lays out his system for being more productive and getting more done. It’s not for everyone, of course, and each of his suggestions might not be for you. But if you want some advice on how to be more organized, get more done, manage your boss, and overcome procrastination, give it a read.

You note that most professionals have a much better grasp of how they spend their money than their time. Why does that matter?

It’s certainly understandable that many people find it easier to keep track of their money than to keep track of their time. Money can be easier to count and you probably spend money only a few times each day, instead of every minute of your life.

But in many ways, time is a much more valuable resource than money. You can earn large profits and save them for use years later. However, once time is gone, it will never come back. That’s why it’s so bizarre to me that professionals often use their time inefficiently — by procrastinating, by perfecting an unimportant task, or by just sitting around in the office, trying to be seen. It seems to me that professionals should husband time as an irreplaceable resource.

The writer for The New York Times typed an autobiographical essay about his first job out of law school at the prestigious firm of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore. He gives a little bit of an inside view of being a junior lawyer at the firm. More interesting is his explanation of why he left the firm to begin an, initially, lower-paying job in journalism. Stewart’s done well for himself without becoming a partner in the firm. He says it’s because he understood how the firm selected the few who became partners and applied that principle to his own life.

Even then Cravath lawyers worked long hours. In my book “The Partners,” I told the story of a young partner who billed 26 hours in a single day by flying to the West Coast, gaining three hours thanks to the time-zone change while working on the plane. But the firm also said it encouraged civic and philanthropic activities.

I played in a quintet that gave chamber music performances at retirement and nursing homes. One evening I was on the subway examining my music when a partner materialized at my side. He saw the score, seemed interested, and asked where I was going. Soon after, the partner I was working for called me to his office and shared an experience from his life. He’d grown up in New York and gone into the military. Boot camp had been a challenging but rewarding experience. The only time he’d been unhappy was after a weekend visit to the lights and diversions of Manhattan. By staying at camp, he had avoided those distractions, and came to enjoy the tough discipline of the Army.

I pondered that message. He never mentioned the quintet, but soon after that I dropped out.

Money isn’t the key to happiness, as we’ve said  many times in Retirement Watch. I regularly update readers on the latest research on happiness, especially happiness in retirement. The research has reached consistent conclusions the last few years, including this recent piece. Money can make life easier and help you be happier, but you need more than that, and you don’t need a lot of money to be happy.Focus on developing your mental powers and maintaining social connections.

While these situations seem unavoidable, it turns out that working on your “cognitive flexibility” will make it easier to deal with these situations — and generally make you a happier person.

Cognitive flexibility is essentially not “sweating the small stuff,” says Dr. Bill Knaus in an article for Psychology Today. Training your mind to ignore “needless stresses” makes it easier to bounce back from adversity.

Most major law firms insist their lawyers, especially the young ones, work very long hours. I know of one successful major firm, however, that insists on the opposite. It believes working too long makes the lawyers less productive and more mistake-prone, among other things. Some studies show that the best way to work is to work intensely for an hour and a half to two hours, then take an extended break until you’re ready for another 90-minute work block. In that spirit, here’s an essay explaining why you need to goof off during the day, including suggested activities.

James A. Levine, a professor at the Mayo Clinic, agrees that we don’t take enough breaks. Sedentary work habits are as dangerous as a sedentary lifestyle at home. Levine likes the idea of your standing or even walking while you’re working, including during meetings. If you feel sleepy during the day, you should be allowed to take a nap, he says.

Levine suggests that you work in concentrated 15-minute periods, divided up by breaks. “The thought process is not designed to be continuous,” he tells the Times. He points out that efficient, productive work is much more valuable than long hours of wasted or partially productive time.

The studies on wealth and happiness continue to roll out. The first studies generally indicated there isn’t a strong relationship between money or wealth and happiness. More recently, studies have tried to refine the questions. The latest study concludes that there’s an ideal happiness-inducing salary and it’s $75,000. When salaries are below that level, happiness increases as salaries rise. Salaries above that level don’t increase day to day happiness. But the conclusion is more nuanced than that:

That doesn’t mean wealthy and ultrawealthy are equally happy. More money does boost people’s life assessment, all the way up the income ladder. People who earned $160,000 a year, for instance, reported more overall satisfaction than people earning $120,000, and so on.

“Giving people more income beyond 75K is not going to do much for their daily mood … but it is going to make them feel they have a better life,” Mr. Deaton told the Associated Press.

Apparently there is such a thing, and it’s not good. Longtime readers know I follow the studies on happiness. I believe it’s important to know that money and financial security don’t equal happiness. What they do is give you the ability to spend more time doing things that actually will improve your happiness. The most recent study indicates you shouldn’t over due it. Too much happiness causes problems. For example, people who reported being happier than others at an early age weren’t that way years later. Apparently too much happiness takes away your ambition, so you don’t accomplish as much as others. Happiness also can make you gullible and selfish, according to the research. So, strive for happiness but not too much. Being too happy can eventually make you unhappy.

She compares happiness to food: Although necessary and beneficial, too much food can cause problems; likewise, happiness can lead to bad outcomes. “Research indicates that very high levels of positive feelings predict risk-taking behaviors, excess alcohol and drug consumption, binge eating, and may lead us to neglect threats,” she says.

Years ago in an episode of M*A*S*H* Col. Winchester said to the other doctors, “I do one thing. I do it very well. Then, I move on.” Today, the emphasize is on multi-tasking and juggling many different tasks. If you participate in that trend, that’s probably why you’re also feeling like you’re not getting as much done and are falling behind. A post in the Harvard Business Review makes the case that people feel burned out and overwhelmed because they try to do too much and don’t work efficiently. It argues that multi-tasking and doing too many things makes you less productive, not more, in addition to feeling run down. The article offers suggested strategies for both individuals and businesses to improve their productivity and streamline their work habits.

The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. In part, that’s a simple consequence of splitting your attention, so that you’re partially engaged in multiple activities but rarely fully engaged in any one. In part, it’s because when you switch away from a primary task to do something else, you’re increasing the time it takes to finish that task by an average of 25 per cent.

But most insidiously, it’s because if you’re always doing something, you’re relentlessly burning down your available reservoir of energy over the course of every day, so you have less available with every passing hour.

I know this from my own experience. I get two to three times as much writing accomplished when I focus without interruption for a designated period of time and then take a real break, away from my desk. The best way for an organization to fuel higher productivity and more innovative thinking is to strongly encourage finite periods of absorbed focus, as well as shorter periods of real renewal.