Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky’s work on happiness and fulfillment has had a significant impact on my approach to coaching (and my own life) since I first read her book The How of Happiness shortly after its publication in 2009. She’s continued her extensive research in the field and published The Myths of Happiness in 2014. (Please note the importance of understanding the “pie chart” presented in her work and alluded to in the image above.)
Lyubomirsky suggests that we have the greatest ability to influence our level of happiness by engaging consistently in a set of small-scale, regular activites on a weekly or even daily basis. She’s identified 12 such activities, ranging from “Counting your blessings” to “Taking care of your body.”
But no single activity is helpful for everyone, and it’s important to engage in those activities that are best-suited to us as individuals. Lyubomirsky has devised a Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic to help choose the activities that are most likely to have a positive impact on our happiness, and she has graciously given me permission to reproduce this instrument here:
Person-Activity-Fit-Diagnostic
Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic