--- title: 7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research description: Highlights from Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage: “Each activity listed below not only gives us a quick boost of positive emotions, improving our performance and... canonical: https://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-29T23:34:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:23:20.976Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research og:description: Commit conscious acts of kindness og:url: https://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d704fc014bc8f67/6987eda6cd6848085709dc96/175846600-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: hands-cupping-heart og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research twitter:description: Commit conscious acts of kindness twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d704fc014bc8f67/6987eda6cd6848085709dc96/175846600-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Apr 29, 2015 11:34 PM UTC  Hands Cupping a heart Hands Cupping a heartGetty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Apr 29, 2015 11:34 PM UTC Highlights from Shawn Achor’s [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 1) Meditate Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 2) Find Something to Look Forward To Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 3) Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 4) Infuse Positivity Into Your Surroundings Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 5) Exercise Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 6) Spend Money (but not on stuff) Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- ## 7) Exercise a Signature Strength Via [The Happiness Advantage:](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307591549/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307591549) --- > “” --- **Join over 180,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_**](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/08/what-7-activities-does-harvard-happiness-expe/)**_._** Related posts: [New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) [The 8 Things The Happiest People Do Every Day](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/happiest-people/) [How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/"},"headline":"7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research","datePublished":"2015-04-29T23:34:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:23:20.976Z","description":"Highlights from Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage: “Each activity listed below not only gives us a quick boost of positive emotions, improving our performance and...","url":"https://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/","keywords":["Psychology","Happiness"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d704fc014bc8f67/6987eda6cd6848085709dc96/175846600-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Barker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-barker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d704fc014bc8f67/6987eda6cd6848085709dc96/175846600-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"hands-cupping-heart","caption":"hands-cupping-heart","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/","name":"7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research"}}]}] ```