How To Raise Your Happiness Baseline

Have you ever thought, “If I just had X, I’d finally be happy”?

More money. The dream relationship. The breakthrough.

Or maybe the opposite: “If I lost everything, I’d never recover.”

It feels so real in our minds. We imagine the extremes. Winning the lottery. Or losing it all.

But psychology has a surprising truth for us: neither of those extremes changes happiness as much as we think.

In fact, your happiness is more like a rubber band. Stretch it out—good or bad—and it snaps back to where it started.

The Study That Changed Everything

Back in 1978, psychologists Philip Brickman, Dan Coates, and Ronnie Janoff-Bulman ran a now-famous study.

They looked at two groups: people who had recently won the lottery, and people who had recently suffered accidents that left them paraplegic or quadriplegic.

If you had to guess: who would be happier a year later?

The lottery winners, right? Surely millions of dollars makes life better.

But the results were the opposite of what most of us expect.

• Lottery winners experienced a brief spike in happiness. But within a year, they weren’t much happier than before—and in some ways, they enjoyed life’s little pleasures less.

• Accident victims, of course, were devastated at first. But within six months, their reported happiness levels rose dramatically, often close to where they had been before.

The conclusion? Our brains are wired to adapt.

Extreme events don’t change happiness nearly as much—or as permanently—as we think.

This process is called hedonic adaptation.

It’s why lottery winners aren’t blissful forever. And why people facing tragedy often recover in ways that seem impossible.

The Problem With Extremes

This explains why we’re so often let down by our own expectations.

We think:

“If I just get the job, the relationship, the big break—then I’ll finally be happy.”

Or:

“If I fail, if I lose, if the worst happens—I’ll never recover.”

But the science is clear. Our minds normalize. We snap back to baseline.

And that baseline matters more than we realize.

The Opportunity: Raising the Baseline

Here’s the powerful shift: while events don’t permanently change our happiness, our habits can.

There are practices proven to raise baseline happiness:

1. Gratitude.

   In 2003, psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough found that people who kept a weekly gratitude journal reported higher optimism, better physical health, and more joy. Gratitude literally trains your brain to savor everyday moments.

2. Relationships.

   The Harvard Adult Development Study—an 85-year study following hundreds of people—found that strong relationships are the single most important predictor of happiness and health. Not money. Not fame. Connection.

3. Purpose.

   Research shows that intrinsic goals—growth, mastery, contribution—create more lasting fulfillment than extrinsic goals like money or recognition. Living aligned with purpose lifts your baseline.

4. Mind Training.

   Neuroscientist Richard Davidson’s work on meditation shows it can physically change the brain, increasing resilience and empathy. Training the mind raises your default.

A New Way to See the Future

So instead of imagining the extremes…

The jackpot that will make you happy forever.

The tragedy that will destroy you forever.

Ask:

What habits raise my baseline today?

What practices will make me resilient tomorrow?

Because happiness has gravity. It always returns to baseline.

But you’re not powerless.

You can raise the ground you stand on.

Closing

The real jackpot isn’t millions in your bank account.

It’s millions of small moments—cultivated by gratitude, connection, purpose, and practice—that quietly lift your baseline higher and higher.

That’s what lasts.

🎙 The Grateful Podcast

I host a podcast where I sit down with incredible thinkers, creators, and change-makers to explore how to live with more gratitude, purpose, and ambition.

• Monday → A solo episode where I share the raw lessons I’m learning in real-time.

• Wednesday & Saturday → Conversations with guests who are chasing meaningful lives and doing what they love.

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

🌱 1-on-1 Gratitude Coaching

If you’re chasing a dream and feel stuck, burnt out, or unsure of your next move—this is for you.

I work with two different client profiles:

1. I guide ambitious young people to help them find clarity, take action, and live with more gratitude along the way.

2. I help burnt out, established CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs ground in presence so can start optimizing for a life that feels good on the inside and doesn’t just look good from afar.

It’s not therapy. It’s not life coaching.

It’s a real conversation about who you want to become—grounded in purpose and built on action.

🔗 Book a free 15-minute call

Email me at [email protected] to get scheduled.

Thank you for reading.

Keep showing up. Keep dreaming big.

I’ll see you next week.

With gratitude,

Jack