The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything

by Neil Pasricha

Fewer choices means faster decisions.

“Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price. It’s different from ordinary physical fatigue—you’re not consciously aware of being tired—but you’re low on mental energy.”

You look at decisions you make on a daily basis and decide which ones to automate, regulate, effectuate, and debate.

“The decision of what to choose at a restaurant can be overwhelming. I’m thrilled when someone says, ‘Let me cook for you.’”

Work expands to fill the space available and the result is lower quality.

It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

“The less time we have to do it, the more focused and organized we are. We all work together. We have to! There is no way we’d hit the deadline otherwise. And we always manage to pull it off,”

“Delay is the deadliest form of denial,”

Fear of Faliure

Do only nerds do their homework Friday night? Maybe. But they’re the ones with the whole weekend to party.