Behaviors

Prefer live, synchronous interaction over asynchronous communication; if not in person, use video when possible, and phone calls can also be highly emotionally connective.

Texting is described as a weaker substitute for social connection; schedule real-time interaction and call friends you have not talked to recently.

Try increasing real-time social connection and notice immediately afterward how it made you feel to update your prediction about socializing.

Scrolling faces and DMs can create the illusion of connection without delivering real social nourishment.

Start small rather than jumping into huge parties; one-on-one formats like a coffee date may create less social anxiety, and introverts should balance social interaction with alone time.

Use small interactions to refill the 'leaky tire' of happiness; if not feeling happy, add one more interaction than your current baseline and monitor how it feels over time.

Use sensory attention to become embodied and present: notice what you see, hear, and how your breath changes.

Can be useful when it fills the head enough to reduce rumination without impairing presence in the physical task; avoid using audio in situations where full sensory presence matters, such as art engagement or ballroom dancing.

Repeatedly noticing and recording delights shifts attention away from hassles and toward positive emotion.

Treat negative emotions as information: loneliness may mean you need more social connection, and overwhelm may mean you need to take something off your plate before burnout or illness.

Negative emotions are useful signals; suppressing them gives up important information.

Provides exercise and social interaction; especially useful for people who otherwise would not exercise.

Meta-analyses were cited as showing that 30 minutes of cardio exercise per day can be as effective as antidepressant medication for reducing symptoms of depression.

Interacting physically with pets can create sensory presence.

Put a future 1-hour block on your calendar and do not schedule anything in it to create time affluence.

Stoic practice of imagining losing valued things to break hedonic adaptation and increase appreciation; examples included imagining losing success, being exiled, losing a partner, losing health, or not being able to walk. Use imagination to appreciate what you have, especially for things you cannot literally space out.

Deeply imagining the rewards of a future goal can reduce motivation to do the work.

Instead of fantasizing about the reward, vividly imagine the obstacles and plan solutions in advance; example given was preparing running clothes or a warm hat the night before.

Recognizing that good moments are temporary can increase appreciation and savoring; use finitude as a cue to pay attention now.

Contemplate mortality to appreciate life more and avoid taking experiences for granted.

Helping others is framed as a major behavioral hack for happiness; examples include donating, volunteering, spending money on others, and treating someone else instead of yourself.

Use religion or religious transformation as a treatment approach for alcoholism/addiction; described as the most reliable treatment in the literature.

Use a morning ritual of putting your environment in order to support clear thinking and orientation: look around your room or kitchen, make your bed, and spend about 10 minutes organizing one thing. If mornings are difficult, get up, shower, make your bed, and do something useful; repeated daily, order accumulates quickly.

Doing a HIIT session just before cognitive flexibility work improves executive control and function.

Do not overdo high-intensity interval training; two HIIT sessions in a day can reduce cognitive performance after the second session due to reduced cerebral blood flow.

Prioritize compound movements to generate arousal/energy and support cognition via adrenaline and norepinephrine pathways. Examples given include squats, deadlifts, bench presses, dips, pull-ups, and rows.

Train the whole body to maintain symmetry of function and strength and to offset injuries.

If feeling tired, start moving and specifically engage core muscles to increase energy via adrenaline pathways. Warm-up examples include air squats, running in place, and jumping jacks.

Include some form of jumping in weekly exercise to load the skeleton and likely stimulate osteocalcin-related brain benefits, especially jumping where you control the eccentric or landing portion. Examples include jump rope, high-knees jump rope, double unders, box jumps, and jumping on or off boxes. Progress slowly and safely because eccentric work increases soreness and injury risk. This work can be added at the end of a run, zone 2 day, or HIIT day.

After about 10 days of no cardiovascular or resistance training, brain oxygenation and other markers begin to decline.