In a recent interview with Arthur Brooks, a Happiness Scientist and professor at Harvard (he also recently published a book with Oprah), he distilled happiness into three elements: satisfaction, enjoyment, and meaning. Brooks’ thesis stuck with me as I reflected on my life and the lives of our students.

1. SATISFACTION

This summer I installed a paver path in my backyard. It was difficult. It was frustrating. It was tiring. It was annoying.

But after a three-week struggle, I was able to look back and say “I did that.” Every time I walk that path I feel a little boost of pride in my work.

This is much like the student who, last year, begged to be taken out of AP History, then went on to get a 4 on the exam.

2. ENJOYMENT

Not to be confused with pleasure, enjoyment means having fun in a healthy way with other people. For me, that’s fishing or golf, or talking for hours about sports or philosophy.

For a student, that might be acting in the school play, playing football, or camping with family.

Enjoyment is also not to be confused with amusement, including but not limited to scrolling through TikTok, Netflix binges, and other mindless, soul-sucking activities.

3. MEANING

Brooks poses two questions to help listeners identify meaning in their lives: “Why are you here?” and “What would you die for tomorrow?” Heavy for sure, but he argues that if we can answer those questions clearly and concisely, we’ve got meaning in our lives.

This framework has been helpful in my conversations with students. It’s not enough to just get good grades; you have to also enjoy yourself. But if you’re focused only on enjoyment, you will miss the satisfaction of a job well done. And if everything is (or feels) meaningless, how can you fully engage in what they’re doing, academically or otherwise?

So like my footpath, the road to happiness is not a straight or easy one, but it might just be simpler than we thought.