Busyness = Happiness

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Let’s face facts: You’re lazy

• You watch tv instead of tackling that pile of dirty laundry.
• You surf the net instead of getting some exercise.
• You play video games instead of creating recipes for my new Paleo Cookbook

And you’re not alone. Even me…Mr. Health Habits can be a lazy couch potato (usually during NFL Sunday afternoons).
But, what if I told you that waaaayyyyyy down deep in your primal DNA, you actually hate being lazy and instead you crave activity.
What if I told you that for each & every one of us….busyness = happyness.
Would you believe me?
Would you believe these scientists when they hypothesize that:

1. People dread idleness and desire busyness, but
2. Without a reason to get busy, we revert to laziness.

The Science

The researchers grabbed 98 college students and told them to fill out a bunch of surveys about their school and that they could do nothing else during the experiment.

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BORING.

• After leaving their belongings (e.g., cell phones, books) with the experimenter, participants were given the first survey.
• Upon finishing the survey, they were told that the second survey would not be ready for another 15 min and that they were to drop their completed first survey at a designated location during the waiting period.
• There were two such locations, one nearby (right outside the room) and the other far away (a 12- to 15-min round-trip walk).
• Participants could either deliver the survey to the nearby location and wait out the remaining time (the idle option) or deliver the survey to the faraway location, return, and then wait out the remaining time (the busy option).
• In both cases, they would receive a piece of candy when they dropped off the survey, as a token of appreciation.
• Some participants were told that the candy was the same in both locations while others were told that there were 2 different types of candy and that they would be chosen at random.

At the end of the 15-min waiting period, all participants were given a second questionnaire that asked, “How good did you feel in the last 15 minutes?”

Responses were made on a scale from 1 (not good at all) to 5 (very good)

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The Results

1. In the “same candy” group, most participants were lazy and chose the closer location
2. However, in the “random candy” group, more participants chose the faraway or “busy” location

The potential of a “better” candy was enough of an incentive to convince the participants to reject the “lazy” option and to choose the “busy” option.

And when they were asked how they felt during the past 15 minutes:

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• The participants who chose the faraway or “busy” option were universally happier than the lazy participants.

Conclusions

1. We’re happier when we are busy
2. We’re less happy when we are lazy
3. And yet, without a “reason”, we choose laziness over busyness.

As if being happy wasn’t enough of a reason.