After interviewing over a thousand people about what made them happy, he found that all the responses had five things in common. Happiness, or “flow,” occurs when we are:
*intensely focused on an activity
*of our own choosing, that is
*neither underchallenging (boreout) nor overchallenging (burnout), that has
*a clear objective, and that receives
*immediate feedback.
Csíkszentmihályi discovered that people who are “in the flow” not only feel a profound sense of satisfaction, they also lose track of time and forget themselves completely because they are so immersed in what they are doing. Musicians, athletes, actors, doctors and artists describe how they are happiest when they are absorbed in an often exhausting activity – totally contradicting the commonly held view that happiness has to do with relaxation.
Once you have established a goal, check whether it correlates with these fourteen requirements.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-phased
Positively stated
Understood
Relevant
Ethical
Challenging
Legal
Environmentally sound
Agreed
Recorded