High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 415: Why We Are Not Happier

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

As humans, we all experience Hedonic Adaptation which is our way of quickly adapting to new situations. This adaptation gets in the way of our long-term happiness. This is the reason people aren’t happier long-term after they make more money or get a new job. To combat this adaptation, we want to savor the good – notice and appreciate the positive experiences and good in our life for 10-12 or so seconds.  Power Phrase this Week: “I seek out the good and savor the greatness in my life.”    Quote of the Week: Albert Einstein said it best, “Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.”   

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best, so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. Checking in with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Why are we not happier? How are you doing, Sindra? I'm doing great. How are you doing, Janelisa? Excellent. I'm excited to talk about this. Why are we not happier? What's our quote today? This is by Albert Einstein. He said,

Life is a preparation for the future, and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none. Live as if there were none, huh? So what exactly are we talking about when we talk why are we not happier? Well, have you ever noticed that when things noticeably change in your life, like let's say you buy a new car or a new house or you get a new job or maybe you lose the weight that you really wanted to, something wonderful happens in your life, you just quickly adapt to it. Sure. And in psychology, we call this process hedonic adaptation. And it's our way as humans of quickly adapting to new situations. But it also stops us from being really grateful and

enjoying the small things. And we call this the hedonic treadmill, because we kind of always end up where we started in terms of happiness. And that's really the reason that we aren't happier as humans. So is this a good thing or not? Well, good question, Lisa. I'd say that adaptation gets in the way of just our long-term happiness in general. And it can feel like we're on this treadmill just looking for the next like dopamine hit to make us feel good. You know, for example, we make more money in our lives, and kind of our expectations also rise at the same time. And it's something, as humans, that we all experience,

but the key is to be more aware of it, and when we're more aware of it, we can really counteract the impact. So can you give us some examples? Yeah, there's some really strong examples of this. For example, when people win the lottery, they tend to return to their original levels of happiness in about 18 months after they win the lottery. So there's like this initial increase in joy, but then their happiness returns to before they won the lottery. Or the same kind of thing happens when people lose a limb. It might be devastating at first, but then generally they return to their kind of pre-accident happiness. You know, even, I don't know if Lisa, if you ever noticed this,

but when you eat something really delicious, you know, the first couple of bites taste really good and then, you know, maybe it wears off. Okay. So this adaptation can really happen in, you know, every day of our life. For example, if we eat our favorite food over and over again, or maybe the first time we go on a roller coaster, it's really exciting, or we listen to our favorite song over and over again. And this adaptation, maybe kind of think about it as just a new normal. So, Cinder, what do you suggest that we do instead? I think the most important thing that we can do to combat this is what we're going to call the practice of savoring. And savoring is just noticing and appreciating these positive experiences in your life. And the power of it is it helps you develop more long-term positive emotions. And we want to

just savor what we have right now and appreciate it. So to do this, really just kind of pay attention to any time you're experiencing something positive. And I'm going to encourage you to take that in for just 10 or 12 seconds, just noticing, putting your attention to that and noticing yourself, how you feel good, and just showing gratitude for the experience, you know, reminding yourself that whatever you notice that you're grateful for. So do you have a final point for us today? Yeah.

I would say that, you know, as humans, we spend a lot of time, sometimes a lot of time thinking about what's going to make us happier. And I think the way to think about happiness is to ask yourself, like, how can you hang on to that happiness longer? And one of the ways that you can do that is the practice of savoring. And so I'm going to encourage everyone who's listening is just to appreciate even the small things, you know, that you once took pleasure or joy in. And I think, you know, this isn't about looking for new things that can make you happy.

You know, you can certainly do that. But I'm also going to encourage you to notice the things that you already have and savor those. That makes a lot of sense. And can you summarize today for us? You know, I would say we each experience hedonic adaptation, but this does get in the way of our long-term happiness. This is the reason we aren't happier as humans, because when we make more money, for example, or we get a new promotion,

it doesn't always make us happier in the long term. So to really combat this, we want to savor the good, notice and appreciate the good, and just notice and take it in for about 10 to 12 seconds to really be grateful for it. Cinder, you always leave us with a power phrase to get us through. What is the power phrase today? This week it is this. I seek out the good and savor the greatness in my life. Sounds perfect.

Cinder, how do people get in touch with you to learn more about what it is that you do? You can head over to Dr. Cinder, so drcindra.com. And I'm a speaker and coach. And I have a book called Beyond Grit that you can check out over there. Perfect. Why are we not happier with Dr. Cendra Kampoff today? Cendra, always good to hear from you. Thank you, Lisa.

Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Thank you next week.