We discuss the third element of the “Happiness Trifecta”: We reveal our “24 for
24” lists of 24 things we each want to accomplish in 2024, and talk about why
making this kind of list can boost our happiness. (The other two elements of the
Happiness Trifecta? Choose a one-word theme for 2024 and #Write24in24.)
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Try This at Home
Create your “24 for 24” list.
Any tool is useful that prompts us to reflect on our lives, and what changes we might undertake to make ourselves happier, healthier, more productive, or more creative.
Research shows that when we set specific aims for ourselves, we’re more likely to achieve them.
If you’d like to get the free PDF to write your own “24 for ’24 list,” you can download it here.
If you’d like to read an article I wrote about tips for making your list, it’s here.
ELIZABETH: Her one-word theme is “Book.”
- Orange Theory 50 times
- Get new sunglasses
- Engage more on social media
- Weigh every day
- Publish the novel, or have it in the pipeline
- #Write24in24 by keeping her One-Sentence Journal
- Weekend away with college friends
- Weekend away with high-school friends
- Get back into therapy
- Walking trip with Gretchen in England
- Put on moisturizer every night
- Have at least one Happier in Hollywood retreat
- Happier in Hollywood newsletter
- Get Fraxel
- Attain and maintain a milestone weight
- Get Nacho’s and Daisy’s stamina good enough to hike
- Go to BravoCon
- Throw a birthday party for herself
- No-Spend February with Gretchen
- Get to 200 pounds on the leg press
- Go to six sound baths with Adam
- Take Daisy and Nacho away for a weekend
- Decorate for Christmas on or by December 1
- Free space!
Gretchen: My one-word theme is “Revisited.”
- Make time for watercolor, including making twelve watercolor postcards
- Plan a milestone wedding anniversary party
- Create a new quiz: “What’s the next new habit that will make you happier?” I love making a quiz! You can take the Four Tendencies quiz here; the Gift-Appreciation quiz here; and the “What’s Your Neglected Sense?” quiz here
- Watch final season of Succession
- Do 48 minutes of “review” each weekend day (2 x 24)
- Celebrate the 10th anniversary of my children’s literature reading group
- Revisit my newsletters — sign up here
- Keep learning and experimenting with AI – I read Ethan Mollick’s Substack newsletter “One Useful Thing,” and I listen to Hard Fork podcast, and I experiment with it
- No-Spend February with Elizabeth
- 2 + 4 adventures, such as the walk in England with Elizabeth
- Summer of Abraham Lincoln
- Have monthly casual dinner parties
- Get a family photo taken in August
- Make a list of “24 things that please me”
- Throw a perfume night for my friends
- Plan a podcaster gathering
- Catch up on my photo albums
- 24 Days of Policy or Commentary
- Plan family trip to Japan
- Draw a Muse Machine card each week
- Find a way to support a cause I believe in
- Work outside my office
- Match-maker: Fix up two couples for a date
- REVISITED: Do another happiness project! If you want to join in, to do your own happiness project in 2024, you can learn more here.
Resource
If you want to learn more about the Happiness Trifecta—the one-word theme, #Write24 in24, and the “24 for ’24” list—here you can find many resources and further reading for kicking off your year!
What We’re Reading
Transcript coming soon.