Ever since my habit-change book
Better Than Before hit the shelves, people have asked me, “I want to do so many things—where should I start? What’s the one habit I should work on first if I want to be happier?” And I reply, “Well, there’s no one right answer. I can’t suggest where you should start without knowing you much better—your values, your interests, your temptations. The place where you should start is different from where other other people should start.” And I know that people are very frustrated by this response. They want an
answer.
Recently I realized: I could create a quiz to give people that personalized, customized response to the question, “What’s the next new habit I should follow if I want to be happier?”
Especially around the New Year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything we want to do. I created this quiz to help you discover the one next new habit that will make the most difference to your happiness, right now.
I’ve found that often we don’t admit to ourselves what actions would do most to make us happier. We change what’s easy to change, or what’s fun to change, or what’s familiar, rather than work on something that makes us anxious or uncomfortable.
This happened to me when I took the quiz (yes, I learned something about myself from my own quiz). I got the result “Boost your sense of creativity and play by developing a new interest or skill.”
This really rings true for me. I gravitate toward mastery and familiarity, and tend to do more of the things that I already do. Even though I get a big jolt of happiness when I cultivate the “atmosphere of growth,” I don’t naturally do it. My quiz result gives me that push.
I already know what new skill I want to cultivate: watercolor. I started down this path in 2023, ran into a frustrating roadblock, so need to push myself to re-engage now. Fortunately, it’s an item on my “24 for 24 list,” and getting my quiz result has made me very determined to follow through. Right now, I’m very bad at watercolor painting, but I really want to cultivate this skill.
Wish me luck! I’ll report back in a few months.
Now that the quiz is out in the world, I’m so eager to hear people’s responses.