The Happiness Project

Congratulations on surviving January (is it just me or did that cold, bleak month feel about 73 days long…?). Now that the new year is well underway, I wanted to find a way to maintain the idea of setting (and keeping) happiness-boosting resolutions throughout the year, once the usual new-year intentions are forgotten.

Years ago I picked up Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project at the airport in New York, and it’s remained one of my favourite books to re-read every year or two when I need reminding. Her general principle – inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s Virtues Chart (a daily ‘scoreboard’ of 13 virtues he wanted to cultivate) – is that in our daily lives we don’t place enough emphasis on the things that really matter, but that it’s often small changes and dedicated efforts which can add up to a big increase in our overall happiness. Rather than the idea of trying to stick to a somewhat impossible list of resolutions every day for an entire year, I like her idea of focusing on just one key area each month (or week or day, if you prefer).

So when reflecting on what I wanted my 2019 to look like (and in the midst of a minor existential crisis last month…), I remembered Rubin’s idea and decided to finally embark on my own year-long happiness project. I followed her blueprint of one subject area for each month of the year, and came up with my own list of 12 things I wanted to tackle:

January: A clean slate

February: Acts of love

March: Get organised + spring clean

April: Aim higher + be fearless

May: Friendship

June: Explore

July: Playfulness 

August: Contemplate the future

September: Keep learning + try new things

October: Buy some happiness

November: Gratitude

December: Celebrate

In part to keep me accountable, but also because I love reading these sorts of things myself and hope it might inspire someone else, I decided to share my project on here. So each month for the rest of the year I’ll post an update about how I’m tackling the areas I’m focusing on and my progress that month. Although I’ll possibly change or swap around some of the areas as the year goes on, I wanted to plan 12 ideas from the outset for two reasons: 1) I thought I was going to do a happiness project last year, but I only planned the first three months and didn’t document my progress in any way, so it’s then probably unsurprising that it sort of fizzled out when I forgot about it sometime around March; and 2) in case any of you want to follow along and do your own, and these ideas give you some inspiration for your own areas you want to work on. If you plan on embarking on your own – whether for one month or the whole year – I strongly suggest putting that area in your diary at the start of each month, and then setting some tangible goals and concrete plans during the course of that month to work on the things you want to address. At the end of each month, look back at how you did and reflect on what you want to do differently the following month.

For my first month of January, I wanted to keep things deliberately broad and focus on all those loose-ends that I had been putting off and which had begun to feel like an insurmountable burden on my ‘to do’ list. I began by writing myself a giant master list and then set about ticking at least one thing off it every single day; I filed and paid my taxes, I scheduled health checkups and doctor’s appointments, I got back into a regular workout routine (something I’d embarrassingly neglected over the holiday season), I cleaned out cupboards and donated excess possessions to friends and charity, and enough other boring-but-necessary life admin tasks to fill 31 days. It was probably the least fun of all the months on my list (which is why I wanted to schedule it first and get it out of the way) – there is nothing fun about going to the dentist or switching your mortgage – but each time I physically ticked something of that giant list, it was enormously satisfying and felt as though a little weight had been lifted. I was knocked out with a cold this week and lost some momentum, so I have a few more tasks to carry over to this month. But overall I feel better for having finally done most of the things I needed to do, and no longer panic when I look at my to do list. Lesson learned: don’t procrastinate and put off unpleasant tasks, because doing so doesn’t make them disappear and instead only prolongs the stress of having to do them. Just do it and you’ll feel better afterwards. I promise!

Wearing: Whistles t-shirt // J.Crew necklace // BaubleBar earrings c/- (old but similar style here) // Celine sunglasses // Michael Kors watch // Charlotte Tilbury ‘Red Carpet Red’ lipstick.

I’m curious to know if any of you have ever done your own happiness projects before? Let me know if you’re going to be joining me in pursuing your own, or if you have any great ideas for monthly subjects to focus on, too – I’d love your suggestions!

Love, Briony xx

Photos by Joe Galvin