This document discusses factors that influence happiness and decision-making. It notes that while people try to predict what will make them happy in the future, they are often mistaken. Biases influence choices in ways people don't realize. Research shows that experiences, social connections, religion, a purpose greater than oneself, and income up to a moderate level correlate more with happiness than material goods or high income. Perspective and daily habits also impact well-being more than expected life events or circumstances. Overall, happiness is complex and influenced by both internal predispositions and external conditions.

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2. What makes us
happy deep
inside.
And how we chose

3. Happiness is under understood

4. Happiness is in the brain

5. We are the first generation in human history to choose!
3 important life decisions we make
• Spouse
• Jobs/career
• Place of residence
And xillions of daily choices
• Clothes – 12 trousers, 28 shirts, 9 pair of socks, 18 T-shirts
• Dinner - 42 local options
• Ketchup – 7
• Cars – 87 mid segment variants

6. How do we chose what makes us happy ?
Friday evening
Options
2% Probability 98%
Utility
Value
Expectation

7. Rational choice levers
Empirical
Objectivity of probability estimations acceptance of
outcomes
Remembering
Expectation of
Subjectivity of utility estimations how I will feel
when I get it
Imagining and forward predictions

8. How good are we at forward predictions
Imagine yourself here
The real deal
Turns out, we suck at it.
But we rock when it comes to adapting.

9. Here is a easy one
What do you want to be when you grow up ?
Ice cream seller
6 year old Kite flier
Doctor
12 year old Astronaut
Noble prize winner, Physics
15 year old Spend every free moment watching ****
Manager
23 year old
NRI
What do you want to be, now ?

10. Prisoners of today
2000, as imagined in 1935
Zeppelins
All white men
All suited
Offices with high power distance
and what cars!!
So much of what we think will make us happy 5 yrs hence
is what will make us happy 5 mins hence. It’s scary.

11. How the brain figures it
Seat of forward
projections
Seat of judgment
We are the only creatures that thinks about the future
Are we any better for it ?
This insight = 8 nobles between Economics, medicine and chemistry

12. Biases in prediction and choice
Anchoring bias : Choices depend on where you start from
Loss aversion bias : twice likely to chose no-loss option
Frequency bias : ‘If it happens often, it will happen again’ expectation
Overestimation bias : We think the world of ourselves
Framing bias : The context decides the outcome
Autopilot bias : The large popocorn bag gets eaten just as well.
We overestimate the likelihood of events we can easily remember. ?
Representative bias : Finding patterns when they are none : Lucky cap.

13. Biases in action
6 noble prizes in last 15 years

14. The brain is a wonderful dodo
Lucky Phineas Gage

15. Lesson : Our happy decision making framework sucks

16. However a little bit of IQ is a good thing

17. Are we happier than our grandparents ?

18. Geography of bliss
Iceland = Bliss in failure
Holland = Bliss in freedom
UAE = Bliss in affordability
Thailand = Bliss in acceptance
Italy, Mongolia = Bliss in family
Spain = bliss in unhurriedness
Guatemala = bliss in respect

19. What about Income ?
15,000 USD worth of Purchasing power – The magic number

20. The happiness treadmill

21. The economics of bliss
A short term course of psychological therapy is 32 times more cost
effective at increasing happiness than simply increasing income

22. The belief system of bliss
Religion, politics, and happiness, 2004. Source: General Social Survey

23. The social connections of bliss
If you can name at least 5 close friends, you are 60% likely to be very happy

24. The family bliss bump

25. Stay married or go free, fast.

26. Raising children. Empirically makes us unhappy
But it is the perfect viral business model.
The group that acts to maximize happiness by not having kids, ceases to exist.

27. Old age is not so bad after all

28. Daily bliss ballasts
Experiences trump materialistic joys

29. Key to happiness at work

30. Fogget Pay hike. Do what you love

31. A greater cause is a great catalyst

32. Mathematical abstraction of bliss
Wit = α + βxit + εit
How happy you are Your happiness
at any given time predisposition
Genetics, persona
Your reaction to events Variables vector
Euphoric, measured, glum Events, outcomes
How happy you are at
any given life stage
Age, marriage, kids, weight

33. One of many accepted model

34. Putting things in perspective
Come to think of it, your goose is cooked.
The rest is all seasoning