Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking It Can Change the World (2015)

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Be Proactive

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HACKING H(APP)INESS

I have learned to be comfortable with mystery.

DAVID W. HAVENS, M.D.

I DIDN’T REALIZE how much of this book was about my dad until I finished it.

He inspired it, as I pointed out in the introduction. And I’ve mentioned him a few times throughout the book. But for all the geektastic technology and economics I’ve learned about in my work on Hacking H(app)iness, I keep coming back to my dad.

· He did work he was built for.

· He got paid, but money was never the focus of his work.

· His life’s calling was to listen and help others.

Put these three things together and you see a man who got paid to do what he loved. But did the fact he got paid alter the value he gave his patients? The value went beyond mere transaction. We were never rich, but I know Dad created a legacy of wealth for the people he cared for and their families.

After I got my driver’s license in high school, I would often go to pick up my dad after work. Sitting in his worn leather armchair still redolent with the embedded scent of Borkum Riff tobacco from his pipe-smoking days, I could feel a palpable sense of deep emotion permeating the room. The experience was strikingly similar to the feeling I’d get for years as a professional actor in a theater after an audience had seen a play. Theater is therapy, as much for the actors as the audience. Scripts, lighting, costumes—they’re all just pieces of a mirror we agree to look at together for a moment in time, giving us permission to reflect.

I received a letter from one of my dad’s patients not long after he died. She told me how much he had meant to her in a deeply troubling time of her life. She gave me a glimpse of his life I had never seen. It was a precious gift, and it stands as a written testament for the shared experiences of thousands of other people my dad touched with his work. And his life.

We don’t need to write everything down. Sometimes it can be exhausting or counterproductive to measure just for measuring’s sake. But technology and science are helping to create ways to peer more deeply into our lives so we can let in some light to areas where we can inspire healing and growth. And people around the world are recognizing our inherent value has been supplanted for too long by the reckless pursuit of money, and that we’re worth more than wealth.

The Heart of Hacking H(app)iness

As a review, here’s what I’ve done my best to prove in this book:

· Data is getting personal.

· Happiness can be quantified and increased.

· The happiness economy is redefining wealth.

Here are the benefits I explained you’d gain from reading the book:

· Informed Choice

· Joyful Discovery

· The Currency of Connection

Here’s how I’ve encouraged you to act in the context of mobile/modern technology, positive psychology, and evolved economic models focusing on shared value and balanced well-being:

· A—be Accountable

· P—be a Provider

· P—be Proactive

I’ve done my best to show you the following:

· Your personal data is more connected to the world than ever before.

· By measuring your life, you can optimize it and increase your happiness/well-being.

· By connecting your skills to actions that help others, the whole world gets h(app)y.

In short, I’ve tried to prove why your personal data counts and how tracking it can change the world. Now you know that I mean this literally and figuratively, and you can start the process now.

The Mystery

My dad’s quote about learning to be comfortable with mystery wasn’t a cop-out. He said it to me years ago, after we’d had a long argument about religion.

There was a time I planned on going to seminary to be a minister and I got caught up in analyzing Scripture scientifically in an effort to prove it was “true.” When you’re young in your faith (whatever the worldview), it’s easy to think you can convince others to accept your beliefs if you have strong enough words. My dad, however, emphasized the importance of works and that people should know you from the fruits of your labor. He felt character was built, forged like the tools his blacksmith grandfather created when he was a boy.

I’m good with mystery. It leads to wonder. And awe. And humility.

So here’s what I know, at the end of our journey together: Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living.

Go see for yourself.