Happiness is in the data
Some life choices are critical and you don’t want to get them wrong. If you’re an artist, for example, how can you develop your work? Or how can you be happier on a daily basis? Where should you live with your children? Forget your gut feeling or what your loved ones tell you: go and look for the data!
When data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz realized how much baseball had changed because of data analytics, he was keen to apply the same approach to life choices. And the results are rather conclusive, provided you like to go through studies with a fine-tooth comb and do investigative work to unearth this sought-after data.
- Do you want to be happier? You will earn 8 happiness points by going for a walk in the park and lose 4 if you play a video game… you’ll now understand why you felt down during lockdown!
- Have you hit a ceiling in your work life? Capitalize on all your contacts and present your work to as many people as possible. Developing your network will help you get lucky: the best-paid artists, for instance, are those who produce a lot of work and who have made the effort to present it to the maximum number of galleries.
There is almost certainly at least one study out there somewhere that has the answer to your existential questions. Stephens-Davidowitz, however, remains cautious. He recommends kitting yourself out with a bullshit filter so you can sort through the sometimes-contradictory data!
To go further
“Data driven life decisions”
by Chase Jarvis and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (Chase Jarvis, May 18, 2022).
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