Study: Why Chasing Happiness Makes You Miserable

Have you ever asked yourself, “Am I happy enough?”

Maybe you got the thing you wanted: good grades, a relationship, a new opportunity. And then you immediately wondered, “Shouldn’t I feel happier right now?”

Or maybe you check in with yourself on a rough day and think, “Why can’t I just be happy like everyone else?”

Here’s the trap: the more we measure and judge our happiness, the less happy we actually feel.

And now science backs that up.

The Study You Haven’t Heard Of

A team of psychologists recently studied how people monitor their happiness.

They found something counterintuitive:

• People who constantly evaluated how happy they were actually ended up less satisfied with life.

• They felt more disappointment when positive events didn’t deliver the joy they expected.

• Even when something good happened, the act of judging their happiness made them enjoy it less.

In other words, overthinking happiness backfires.

Why This Happens

It is a bit like staring at the clock when you are trying to fall asleep.

The harder you focus on the result, the further it slips away.

Happiness works the same way. The more you track it, the more it feels like you are not measuring up.

The Opportunity: Stop Measuring, Start Living

The good news is that happiness often sneaks in sideways.

It shows up when you are fully immersed in life, not when you are scoring yourself on how you feel.

Instead of asking, “Am I happy right now?” try asking:

• Am I present?

• Am I connected?

• Am I doing something that matters to me?

When you live in alignment with those questions, happiness tends to follow naturally.

Closing

So maybe the real key is not to judge your happiness more but to judge it less.

Stop asking, “Am I happy enough?”

Start asking, “Am I living fully?”

And let happiness catch up on its own.

🎙 The Grateful Podcast

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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

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Thank you for reading.

Keep showing up. Keep dreaming big.

I’ll see you next week.

With gratitude,

Jack