We all want to be happy. Dig deeply enough, and you’ll find that happiness emerges as the core motivation behind almost everything we do.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. — Aristotle

But how successful are we at this never-ending pursuit of happiness?

It’s hard to tell. Happiness is notoriously difficult to measure. Usually, it’s quantified through subjective tests like those I reviewed in a previous article. And although such tests can be helpful, they are heavily influenced by mood and various personal biases.

The three tests described in this article are different. No emotional distortions. No personal bias. Only cold, hard truth.

Ready for a healthy dose of objective reality? Let’s go.

The Benchmark

Before we start, take a few seconds to complete the classic subjective happiness test, known as the Cantril ladder:

Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top. Suppose we say that the top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. If the top step is 10 and the bottom step is 0, on which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time?

Please ascend to your chosen step and keep it in mind. It will make for an interesting comparison to the more objective tests outlined below.

Test 1: Self-Sabotaging Instant Pleasure

The rich world has spawned a sprawling Instant Pleasure Industry, dedicated to making us feel better in the moment. There are two big reasons behind the mushroom-like growth of this industry:

1. The little dopamine hits generated by its products are highly addictive.
2. Ironically, many of its products harm our long-term happiness, creating an even stronger demand for instant pleasure.

The vicious cycle created by the second point is a major driver behind many societal problems like obesity, sedentary living, and high levels of stress and anxiety. It’s also the subject of this test. Simply put, genuinely happy people have no reason to fall into this cycle of self-sabotage.

In this test, we’ll assess how much time and health (future time) you spend on instant-pleasure activities in an attempt to deal with negative feelings.

But first, I want to clarify that not all pursuits of instant pleasure are bad. Shunning all pleasure is no way to live a happy life either. So, let’s get a little more specific.

Good and bad instant pleasure

The instant pleasure activity that consumes most of our time is the consumption of digital media — things like watching TV, streaming Netflix, or scrolling aimlessly through social media. The stats will blow your mind!

Media consumption becomes a problem when we habitually use it to alleviate negative feelings like boredom, frustration, or anxiety. Unfortunately, most media is consumed for precisely this reason.

But the Instant Pleasure Industry’s media empire can have a positive impact as well. For example, going out to see a quality movie with a good friend or watching the game with some mates are both wholesome activities.

When it comes to sacrificing our health for instant pleasure, junk food is the top example. How often do you eat or drink something you know you shouldn’t in an attempt to get rid of unwanted feelings? For most of us, this happens all too often.

But again, sugary and fatty foods have their place. There’s no problem with happily indulging at a celebration or mindfully enjoying a little guilt-free dessert after a wholesome meal.

There are many other examples, but I think you get the point. Good instant pleasure enhances an already positive experience. Bad instant pleasure offers temporary relief from negative emotions at the expense of long-term health and happiness.

The test

So, here are the quick and easy instructions for this test: Start with 20 points. Now, think through your typical week and subtract points for each day where any of the following statements are true.

1. You do something you know is bad for you in an attempt to alleviate negative feelings.
2. This attempt to deal with your unwanted feelings only makes you feel worse later (e.g., guilt, disappointment, frustration).
3. You really go too far (e.g., binging an entire series or devouring a huge tub of ice cream).

For example, if statement 1 is true on four days, statement 2 on two days, and statement 3 almost never, the calculation would be 20–4–2–0 = 14. You can divide this number by two for a score out of 10.

Interpretation and action

This can be a pretty hard-hitting test. If I had to take it several years ago, the results wouldn’t be pretty. I regularly got lost down the YouTube rabbit hole and succumbed to ice-cream-and-series binges all too often. And, I must admit, my low score on this test would have been a pretty accurate reflection of my true well-being at the time.

Today, I score a solid 9 out of 10, and it won’t be long before I earn full marks. The two main reasons for this turnaround are: 1) I sorted out the biggest frustration in my life (a lack of creative freedom), and 2) I optimized my environment to protect me against unhealthy temptations.

So, the next time you experience an irresistible craving for self-sabotaging instant pleasure, stop for some valuable introspection. What is causing the negative emotions you want to soothe with instant pleasure? Can this cause be eliminated through planning and patience? Did something in your environment trigger your craving? Can you get rid of this trigger?

Lasting solutions to these questions bring lasting happiness.

Test 2: Keeping Up With The Joneses

Our next test focuses on another major sector in any rich-world economy: the Pretence Industry, with all its products tailor-made for broadcasting just how fabulous our lives are.

One of the many fascinating insights in Paul Dolan’s Happy Ever After is the significant effect showing off has on our happiness. Beyond a relatively modest level, absolute material wealth does little for our happiness. The thing that matters more is whether we’re better off than our peers.

In a classic example, most people would rather live in a 3000 sq ft house in a neighborhood of 2000 sq ft houses than a 4000 sq ft house in a neighborhood of 6000 sq ft houses.

This leads to “positional arms races,” where people spend big money on the Pretence Industry for the sole purpose of showcasing their status. Such attempts to “keep up with the Joneses” often cause unnecessary financial stress (and always cause unnecessary environmental damage).

A more severe problem comes from the other side of this happiness coin: We lose plenty of happiness when we feel worse off than our peers. This is a major problem that contributes to Americans’ modest levels of happiness despite living in a highly prosperous society.

A genuinely happy person would see no point in such a wasteful path to happiness. This is the foundation for our second test.

The test

Start by thinking about how you compare to others in your neighborhood and circle of friends regarding the four most common positional goods:

• The value of your home. Compared to others in the neighborhood, is your home larger and more pristine (both inside and out)?
• The cost of your car(s). Is yours faster and/or more luxurious than most?
• Desirable possessions. Compared to your friends, do you often buy for image rather than functionality? Designer clothes are the prime example.
• High-profile experiences. Do you often embark on expensive adventures that make your friends green with envy?

Now, use the diagram below to score each one. When you have your four scores, add them up and divide the total by 2 for a final score out of 10.

Interpretation and action

The happiness-boost we get from a feeling of superiority relative to our peers is deeply primitive. In the old days, building and displaying your status was key to survival and procreation.

Those days are long gone (at least in the rich world), but we still need a conscious mindset shift to escape these primitive tendencies. Successfully making this shift is great for long-term happiness and stress reduction.

The best performers in this test purposefully maintain a more modest lifestyle than their peers despite having the means to live more extravagantly. There are several happiness-boosting reasons for such a lifestyle choice, like freeing time and space for wholeheartedly pursuing your passion, eliminating all money-stress, and shrinking your environmental footprint.

On the flip side, those who put themselves in a perilous financial situation in an attempt to impress the world score worst. This is far too common. For example, if you earn the median American income, there are about 20 people earning less for every 1 person earning more than you in the world (explore this interactive graph). And yet, only 39% of Americans would be able to comfortably cover a $1000 emergency expense.

This stressful financial fragility is unnecessary. You don’t need to keep up with any Joneses. You just need to be you.

Test 3: The Outside View

Our final test is a short but particularly revealing one: Ask one or two of those closest to you to rate your happiness.

Their task is simple: tell you how happy they think you are on a scale of 0 and 10. Ask for an instinctive impression so they don’t overthink it. If you have someone nearby right now, give them a shout to get your first number! If not, you can always do this test later.

Interpretation and action

If you receive numbers that are very different from the number you gave yourself in the Cantril ladder test (or the two objective tests), it’s the perfect prompt for an interesting conversation! Share the difference with the other person and try to figure out the reason.

Look out for any areas where you present yourself in an inauthentic manner. Pretending to be someone you’re not or pretending that everything is perfect when it’s not can be very tempting at times, but both lead to trouble in the long term.

Be authentic. Eventually, the world will come to love you for it!