The 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life

Book Notes
  • People who had a long-term plan to accomplish something were 31 percent more likely to report enjoying their life (1) – page 6
  • People who were sad spent 35 percent more time focusing on strangers who looked unhappy than on strangers on who looked happy (2) – page 12
  • Retirees were initially more happy than those still working, but within six months retirees’ happiness fell below those who were working (3) – page 20
  • Each group activity subjects engaged in per week increased life satisfaction by 3 percent (4) – page 36
  • 46percent of people find their interactions with their coworkers the most rewarding aspect of their job – twice as many as say that their salary is the most rewarding part (5) –page 42
  • People who took in active interest in their health were 15 percent more likely to feel that health problems were not reducing life satisfaction (6)  – page 44
  • Subjects who had above average feelings of well-being were four times less likely to weigh their happiness and success against those of others (7) – page 52
  • Feelings that their lives were beyond their control reduced likelihood of life satisfaction by 40 percent (8) – page 56
  • Extraversion increased the likelihood of happiness by 47 percent (9) – page 58
  • People who regularly experience nature were 9 percent less likely to report feeling unsatisfied with their lives (10) – page 64
  • 72 percent of people enjoy greater life satisfaction and 54 percent more positive feelings when they volunteer (11) – page 70
  • The capacity to continue trying despite repeated setbacks was associated with a more optimistic outlook on life in 31 percent of people and with greater life satisfaction in 42 percent of them (12) – page 72
  • Every additional ten miles in a daily commute increases stress levels by 5 percent (13) – page 74
  • Those who rated their physician as friendly were twice as likely to seek medical attention at the first sign of distress and three times more likely to follow medical instructions than those who rated their doctor as unfriendly (14) – page 78
  • Those in a mentoring relationship were 29 percent more likely to see meaning in their lives (15) – page 84
  • Hassles of the day were three times more prominent in one’s thinking than the pleasant moments of the day (16) – page 96
  • People with a higher tendency to forgive experiences less stress (17) – page 102
  • Having more close friendships was associated with a 19 percent greater life satisfaction and 23 percent greater sense of optimism (18) – page 116
  • People who said they thought about things from their listener’s perspective were 48 percent more likely to be rated as effective in their communication efforts (19) – page 118
  • Caregivers who had support from others were 59 percent less likely to report feeling overwhelmed by their responsibilities (20) – page 120
  • 64 percent were burdened with frustration at manager’s lack of interest in their views (21) – page 124
  • Willingness to participate in household chores was associated with a 31 percent higher relationship satisfaction and 15 percent higher life satisfaction (22) – page 140
  • People who wrote about the history of their lives were 11 percent more likely to feel happy with their lives and 17 percent more likely to feel optimistic about the future (23) – page 152
  • People who shared their home with another person were 27 percent more likely to feel healthy, 32 percent more likely to feel optimistic, and 61 percent less likely to feel lonely (24) – page 154
  • Those whose values were the most materialistic rated their lives as the least satisfying (25) – page 160
  • Those with a modest income and meaning in their lives were twice as likely to experience life satisfaction as those who were wealthier but lacked a sense of meaning (26) – page 162
  • Those who engaged in leisure activities with others were 31 percent more likely to be in a good mood than those who engaged in such activities alone (27) – page 168
  • Those who frequently thought about mistakes they had made and regrets they had were 17 percent less likely to feel happy with their lives (28) – page 174
  • People who could identify a goal they were pursuing were 19 percent more likely to feel satisfied with their lives and 26 percent more likely to feel positive about themselves (29) – page 176
  • Greater expenditures for family gifts reduced satisfaction with family holidays by 2 percent (30) – page 178
  • People who frequently feel bored were three times more likely to describe their lives as empty and two times to be apathetic about the future (31) – page 180
  • People who said they continued to learn about topics that interested them were 18 percent more likely to feel satisfied with their lives and 43 percent more likely to feel vital (32) – page 190
  • Age, income, and health are four times less likely to predict whether a person is happy than whether the person feels he is having a positive effect on the next generation (33) – page 194
  • The feeling that any actions would be unlikely to produce results reduced feelings of apathy and boredom in 74 of participants (34)  – page 200

 

  1. The mediational effect of hardiness on social support and optimal outcomes in later life
  2. Attentional biases for negative interpersonal stimuli in clinical depression
  3. Psychological resources and successful retirement
  4. Participation in recreational activities and its effect on perception of life satisfaction in residential settings
  5. Factors contributing to job quality and satisfaction among ethnically diverse lower income elderly part timers
  6. Daily living practice of the life satisfied thai elderly
  7. On the cognitive basis of subjective will-being analysis what do individual have to say about it?
  8. Health and aging
  9. Personality and psychological well-being in alter life
  10. The relationship between happiness health and social economic factors
  11. Differential benefits of volunteering across the life course?
  12. Life satisfaction form late adolescence to mid life
  13. Flextime commuters and their driver stress, feelings of time urgency, and commute satisfaction?
  14. Opportunity for control interpersonal impacts and adjustment to a long term invasive care procedure
  15. N/A
  16. Predicting employee life satisfaction  a coherent model of personality work and nonwork experiences and domain satisfactions
  17. Forgivingness relationship quality stress while imagining relationship events and physical and mental health
  18. N/A?
  19. Intra and intergenerational communication satisfaction as a function of an individual’s age and age stereotypes
  20. The well being of elderly black caregivers and noncaregivers
  21. N/A
  22. Predictors of life satisfaction in retired physicians and spouses
  23. The relationship between leisure activites psychosocial development and life satisfaction in late adulthood?
  24. Examining satisfaction of older home owners with intergenerational homesharing
  25. Materialism and its relationship to life satisfaction?
  26. Sources of meaning an investigation of significant commitments in life
  27. Positive moods derived form leisure and their relationship to happiness and personality
  28. Regret appraisals age and subjective well-being?
  29. N/A
  30. What makes for a merry christmas?
  31. The study of life boredom?
  32. N/A
  33. N/A
  34. N/A