The Secret Happiness Hack of Millionaires (And It's Not About Money)

We've all heard the phrase "Money can't buy happiness." But is it true? When you look at the research on wealth, there's a lot of conflicting data. On one hand, living in extreme poverty makes it difficult although nto impossible to create sustained happiness. On the other hand, we know that ever increasing income has diminishing returns on our life's satisfaction. 

What's the real story?

This week, Dan shares some interesting new research that reveals the #1 happiness hack of millionaires...and it has nothing to do with money.

Follow Dan on Instagram at http://instagram.com/cscdanmason

To learn more about Dan or how to work one-on-one, visit http://creativesoulcoaching.net 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've all heard the phrase money can't buy happiness, but
is it true? Well, when you look at the research
on wealth, there's a lot of conflicting data. On one hand,
living in extreme poverty makes it difficult, although not impossible,
to create sustained happiness. On the other hand, we know
that ever increasing income has diminishing returns on our life satisfaction.

(00:25):
In fact, over the course of the pandemic, I profiled
two stories of multibillionaires whose lives fell apart once they
were isolated with only their large savings account to keep
them company. So what's the real story? Coming up this
week on the Life Amplified podcast, I'll share some interesting
new research that reveals the number one happiness hack of

(00:49):
millionaires and it has nothing to do with money. Thanks
for joining me. What is an amplified life. It's having
amplified relationships with people whose support and encourage you to
be your best. It's having amplified energy to conquer the
challenges of the day. And it's having an amplified career,

(01:10):
one that's meaningful to you, the world, and your bank accounts.
I'm Dan Mason helping you discover your calling and create
an amplified life on your terms. This is the Life
Amplified podcast. One of the biggest mistakes. When I was
a young twenty and thirty something media executive climbing the

(01:33):
corporate ladder. Like many people, I used to tell myself, Man,
you know, I'm doing well, but I'll be really happy
when I make more money. You know. I think of
like starting out in my radio career, and I had
my first like big city radio job in Cleveland around

(01:53):
and I think I was making fifty dollars at that
point in my life. Is like a twenty two year
old kid, and man, my goal was always if I
get to six figures, I'm really going to be happy.
And within about eighteen months, by the time I was
twenty four, I got there. And then what happened, right,
Uh went and bought myself Alexis because you know, when

(02:16):
you're in your early twenties and you're making six figures,
why not. Then it became well, if I could just
get to you know, closer to a hundred and fifty thousand,
I'll be really happy. And of course I got there,
and then I bought the home in the gated community,
and you know, continued to work and climb the ladder.
But that high of having the nice house wore off,

(02:38):
and then I was like, well, you know, if I
could just get to two hundred thousand. And there was
one year in my corporate career where I got there,
but by then I was taking on so much work,
so much responsibility, so much stress and hustle just to
you know, manage multiple radio stations and hit my performance incentives.

(03:01):
I got there and I realized, man, like, my health
kind of sucks. I'm on blood pressure medication. Uh, why
is my cholesterol so high? Why I not like the
person I see when I look in the mirror. And
of course there I was, you know, multiple six figure earner,
but it wasn't really satisfied by any by anything that

(03:25):
was happening in my life. And I think that that's
a common theme for a lot of high performers. I
always call it the next big things syndrome. We think
that the next level of wealth is going to unlock
our happiness, and if you look at all the research
that's out there, it's actually not the case. Harvard researchers

(03:46):
called this process of the hedonic treadmill, right that we're
trying to consume our happiness in the world. So you
work and work to get to the next level in
your career. And let's say you're the person you finally
hit six figures so or whatever your number is, and
now instead of like going out to eat at the
outback steakhouse, oh girl, you can get some Morton's. You

(04:09):
can go to Ruth Chris. And that feels really good, right.
It feels expansive the first one or two times you go.
But when we consider what has helped human beings survived
millions of years of changes, ice, ages and so on
and so forth, it's evolution. So quickly as we elevate

(04:29):
to that new level of income, it feels good for
a moment, but we quickly adapt and now it's an expectation.
It's no longer special. But we keep chasing that high,
that dopamine hit that comes from being able to afford
nice things. So what happens we have to work harders,

(04:51):
strive more get to the next level of income than
you buy the nicer card, the bigger house to keep
up with the Joneses on Instagram. But after a while,
you just settle into that new level and you just
keep chasing, right, each new level of money that you make,
you tend to spend more money, which means you need
to work harder to get to the next level, and

(05:12):
that becomes exhausting. And that is what the researchers called
the hedonic treadmill. It's this idea of chasing happiness through
money but never actually getting their long term and boy,
that was a big theme of my corporate career, and
I'll be honest, I took a lot of that with
me when even once I found my purpose and I

(05:32):
started my coaching business, I was so tied up in
this idea of well, I need to make more money
to be successful. And then once I proved that I
can make money away from corporate America, I'll be really
really happy and generally just not a good life approach.
I also burned myself out even as an entrepreneur. In

(05:55):
so what does all this have to do with you?
And what I'm going to share this week ties in
with many of the concepts that we've talked about in
prior podcast. If you go back to January, I gave
you a list of questions that you should consider any
time you're chasing a new goal, and a big theme
of that podcast it's not so much that things were

(06:15):
chasing as much as why we're chasing it, because this
is what Harvard tells us. So Harvard did an amazing
study with researchers in the Netherlands and what they wanted
to find out the happy millionaires, the ones who are
thriving and loving life. What are they doing differently than

(06:36):
the people who are less happy? And it has everything
to do with time. Now. In this study, they surveyed
eight hundred and sixty three Dutch millionaires who had an
average of around two point seven million dollars in assets.
They also gave the same questionnaire to twelve other people

(06:58):
who were selected to be represent snitive of the Dutch population.
These people had an average wealth about thirty six thousand dollars.
Everybody was asked to indicate how satisfied they were with
their life on a scale of one to ten, and
how they spent their free time. Now, this was broken
out into lots of categories. There was a category for

(07:21):
work and commuting. How much time do you spend in
work and in your commute? There was also time for eating.
There was a category of necessities think about as basic
day to day life duties, looking after your children, cooking, shopping, housework,
and then they also looked at free time, but they

(07:41):
broke it out into two different categories, active leisure and
passive leisure. And here's what the study shows us. Millionaires,
by and large, super high achieving, successful people spend their
time in similar ways to everybody else. For example, they
tend to work a lot, and in cases where they

(08:04):
still have a commute and they're not working from home,
they have long commutes also, so millionaires on average spend
about thirty percent of their day working and commuting, as
opposed to about percent of the time for everybody else.
There were also only negligible differences in necessities. Believe it

(08:24):
or not, millionaires spend just as much time shopping and
cooking as other people, and they only spend slightly less
time on childcare and cleaning chores around the house. But
the real difference was in free time. It seems that
millionaires and non millionaires both spent about forty six percent

(08:47):
of their day on leisure activities. However, the non millionaires
like to lie on the couch, they like to binge
watch Netflix, they like to doom scroll through social media. Millionaires,
on the other hand, spend most of their free time
being active. Of their free time was spent moving around,

(09:08):
playing sports, pursuing creative hobbies that add balance to their life.
They did more volunteer work for everyone else. It was
just under sixtent of their free time was spent actively.
So let's break this out into real numbers. It means
the happiest millionaires on average spent about a good half

(09:30):
hour every day being more active than everybody else. In fact,
nineteen minutes out of that were spent on sports and
exercise alone. So that is the big key takeaway here.
The millionaire Happiness hack is actually not about money. It's
more about active free time, and the millionaires who were

(09:54):
engaged in it were significantly more satisfied than everyone else,
including other millionaires that were less engaged in these active activities.
So if active free time is the name of the
game and that is going to be rocket fuel for
your life satisfaction, I want to give you four actionable

(10:15):
tips that you can walk away with to create more
of it in your life. Number one, you have got
to take an inventory of how you're spending your free
time and focus on this question, am I nourishing myself
or am I numbing out? And there is a big
difference on that. The whole self care revolution in some

(10:38):
ways has turned into an isolation and sabotage revolution for
many people. You know, I think of the friend of
mine who is incredibly successful in her career. She is
the breadwinner of her family. She is doing really well
in a competitive industry, uh and can continuing to win.

(11:01):
And at the end of the day, she says, she
comes home and the only thing that she has time
for is to pour a couple of glasses of wine,
watch a ninety day fiance, and scroll on Instagram. And
for her, that is her time to sort of regenerate
and self charge. And she thinks it's self love. But
the wine makes her sleepy, the phone is keeping her

(11:24):
from connecting with her husband and her children, and she
doesn't really feel good the next day. Right, Like, if
you're taken out a bottle of wine and sleeping off
the wine hangover, it's not necessarily an inner environment that
is going to have you rare and to go and
ready to conquer the world the next morning. So create
a list in your journal of all the ways you're

(11:47):
spending your free time and what are the things that
are nourishing to you that feed your spirit? Is their
quality time with the people that you love. Do you
have some creative pursuits that light you up, add balance
to your life away from work. What is your level
of physical activity or are you just trying to isolate

(12:08):
them out and not feel the stress in your life?
Are you in avoidance with some of the relationships where
you're trying to avoid conflict and it's easier just to
be buried in your laptop or scrolling through Facebook. Only
you know the answer for sure, but I think that
that is the first step to help you move forward.

(12:29):
Because we can't manage what we cannot measure. So I
want you to list all of your activities, your free
time activities, and score them on a scale of one
to tend one being this is something that I'm using
to numb out and tend being this is something that
nourishes me, that feeds my spirit. And then create an

(12:52):
average of all those scores that is your average amount
of amplification in your own life. Number two, put a
win on the board. First thing in the morning. How
often do you hit snooze six times? Then you roll
out of bed. You're pressed for time. You're trying to
maybe make some lunch for the kids, are answering some
work emails, trying to look presentable for you know, for

(13:16):
work if you have to be in the office or
at the very least be presentable from the torso up
for your zoom calls that day, and you haven't even
stopped to consider what do I need to get done
for me today? What are my personal goals even away
from work? What is the best use of my time?
You know, it's really been one of the biggest things

(13:38):
that's helped me transform my life. This morning, I was
up at five, I was in the gym with my
trainer at so I was starting out with some physical activity.
I was nourishing my body. I came home, I took
my dog on a walk, which was just some added
physical activity. I ate a healthy break this morning, again

(14:01):
taking care of my body, and I knocked out, you know,
from my business to social media posts, uh, and all
that was done before this morning. Like, if that's where
my work ended for the day, I felt like I
had already won the day, right, So what are the
things for you that would be a win in your life?

(14:24):
If you're somebody who fancies yourself a writer, or maybe
you want to start a podcast, maybe your first thirty
minutes of the day. It's just engaging in that creative pursuits.
I know a New York Times bestselling author who literally
just wrote his book in five hundred word chunks. He
woke up for an hour early every day and just

(14:45):
cranked out forty five minutes of straight writing. He took
a five minute break, and then he went back and
edited that five hundred words. And he did that day
after day until his book was done. But that is
a way that you can put a win on the ward.
This is why so many other people just say, hey,
make your bed first thing in the morning. It's getting
you in integrity and getting you in action. Uh. And

(15:10):
what's right for you, whether it's exercise or creative time,
perhaps some spiritual connection time, meditation or prayer, really depends
on what you need most. My routine can look very
different day to day. I'm not always in the gym
first thing. At There's sometimes when I just need to,
you know, go sit outside and and do some journaling,

(15:33):
you know, if I'm feeling really emotionally worked up. But
know what it is you need and put the win
on the board. Let's talk about the number three steps
to maximize your active free time and in the process,
increase your happiness. This is the pivot, my friends, pivot
toward your purpose. The data from Gallup hasn't really changed

(15:55):
much in twenty years. Eighty five percent of the workforce
is pretty disengaged with their job. They're going through the
motions and a job where they love the paycheck, but
they hate the work. And guess what, ben in a
toxic work environment, sitting at somebody else's desk, doing somebody
else's work, being out of alignment with your purpose is

(16:17):
going to take a toll on you. It is an
exhausting way to live. And at the end of my
corporate career, I was doing the same thing, coming home,
pouring myself a few glasses of wine, uh, numbing out
with television. You know, I had so many unhealthy coping
mechanisms back in the day just to not even be
present with the pain. And what I will tell you is,

(16:40):
and this is what a lot of people talk about,
and we've discussed on the podcast in the past. It's
not so much like life work balance, right this successful
model and even Ariana Huffington is talking about this a
lot lately over at her website Thrive, it's life work
integration when you are lit up with the work you're

(17:00):
doing and you are deeply connected to a sense of purpose.
You can work fifty to sixty hours a week, but
you are energized by that work. You come home and
you bring that energy into your relationships, your spouse, your kids.
They're getting the best version of you and not the
version that just says, you know, mommy or daddy needs

(17:21):
a drink tonight. You know your kids get that right, So,
purposeful career is where it's at. And then when you
are home and you are present and you've got on
fire relationships with the people in your life, even if
you're a single person, if you are out intentionally dating
or you've got some amazing friendships that you're making time for,

(17:41):
that energy feeds right back into your work life the
next day. So it's not a seesaw, it's not a balance,
it's more of a circle that you know, this idea
of work in life feeds one and the other, and
the more you're connected to your purpose, the more energy
that you're going to have for the other pursuit bots
that really add meaning into your life. So those are

(18:03):
the first three steps when we talk about maximizing your
active free time and increasing your happiness. Right the millionaire
mindset is Number one, taking inventory of how I'm spending
my free time. Am I nourishing myself or am I
numbing out? Number two, putting that win on the board

(18:23):
first thing in the morning. Mark Cuban talks about sleeping
in his gym clothes, so he literally just has to
get out of bed, put on some sneakers, and then
he hits the gym immediately. Right, he's going through his
work emails while he's on the treadmill. Number three, pivot
towards your purpose. It is hard to achieve lasting life

(18:44):
satisfaction if you hate the work that you do every day.
This is what my coaching programs are essentially about, helping
you create that that meaningful second act with more money,
freedom and fun. The fourth step up is we want
to start to create a plan for your money where

(19:05):
you are using it in ways that will contribute to
your happiness. There are ways that money will buy happiness,
particularly if you're using it in ways that free up
time for you. This is why you know for the
past I guess five years of being an entrepreneur, investing

(19:26):
in a housekeeper who shows up once a week is
a non negotiable for me. Like that frees up time
that I would have to spend cleaning and I have
no I don't even want to mess with that, right,
So for a relatively low cost, I can have somebody
come over take care of that for me, and it
frees up more creative time for me to focus on

(19:49):
the things that matter. Uh. Investing in some sort of
personal training or a gym membership. Look, physical activity is
where it's at when we talk abou out active free time.
Physical exercise and movement is definitely a part of that.
And for those of you who are like, well, I
have kids, I can't get to the gym in the morning.

(20:09):
I have small children. Look, there are many gems now
that actually offer childcare on site. They have people that will,
you know, watch your kids and they've got an awesome
playroom for them while you take care of yourself. And
by the way, what a powerful example to sit for
your kids that physical health is now a priority in

(20:30):
our family and this is how we take care of
ourselves and and how we have the energy to love
each other more. There's a really powerful example in that.
Another strategy for using your money to buy happiness is
to invest in yourself. Right, It's not just about your
physical health. What are the ways that you're investing in

(20:50):
your emotional well being? You know, is it and what
does that look like for you? Is it? You know,
signing up at a yoga studio and having a membership there?
Is it? Investing in personal development, going to a seminar, retreat,
hiring a coach, some some sort of program where you
better get to know who you are away from your career.

(21:13):
You know, most stuff, people know what they do for
a living, but they don't know who they are. Uh.
That's certainly an option as well. You can also just
invest in in in meaningful and challenging activities that allow
you to pursue some level of mastery and a skill
or a task, whether that's you know, taken art classes.

(21:34):
One of the things I've committed to this year that
totally lifted my mood. At the end of last week,
I was just feeling so heavy about all the world
events and all the things happening in the Ukraine, and
I was really just you know, going through about a
day and a half where I was struggling with my motivation.
But I've invested in taking singing lessons again, which, by

(21:55):
the way, awesome way to regulate your vagus nerve and
to calm your nervous as them singing is a great
way to do it. It just sort of stimulates that
nerve in your body and helps you regulate emotionally. But
that's another area where I just made that a non
negotiable investment. Once a week I go to see my

(22:15):
teacher Richard. He's awesome. I've found like three higher notes
in my range this year that I didn't even know
I had, which you know, also is meaningful to me.
It feels like I am pursuing mastery in an area
of my life. So that is the big takeaways for
you this week that the millionaire mindset for more happiness

(22:40):
is about how you're using your free time and realizing
that free time is not created equally. There is passive
free time, which is hanging out on the couch binge
watching television, eating some potato chips, drinking some wine. And
there is active free time where you are up, you
are engaged, you are moving your body, you are creatively stimulated.

(23:04):
That's where we want to be and those are the
four steps that will help you get there. Take that inventory.
Are you nourishing or numbing out? Are you putting a
win on the board first thing in the morning? Are
you starting your day in a powerful way? Louise Hay
was the one who said, how you start your day
is how you live your day, and how you live
your day is how you live your life. Are you

(23:26):
pivoting towards your purpose or are you presently engaged in
a career that's really adding meaning to your life? And
how are you using your money in smart ways that
actually do buy happiness instead of temporary pleasure. I hope
this serves you, and if you'd like to go a
little bit deeper on this topic, if you're one of

(23:48):
the people contemplating your reinvention out there in the great resignation,
my coaching programs are the fastest way to help you
break through. So many big wins happening in my coaching community.
You can get more info on how we can work
together and fill out your coaching application at my website
Creative Soul coaching dot net. If you're loving the podcast

(24:12):
and it serves you, can you please screenshot this upload
it to Instagram, be sure to tag me at c
SC Dan Mason. I will give you a shout out
on a future podcast episode, and in the meantime, turn
down the volume on your negativity, turn up the volume
on your purpose so you can live life amplified. I'll
talk to you next week.