Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Living Danish


The Danes seem to have a good life style.  They have consistently been among the top for the United Nations World Survey of Happiness Report.  This book concentrates on the workplace, but much can be useful elsewhere.

For my fellow retirees Miek finishes with "you may be retiring from something--but it is important to have something to retire to".

While you are working it amounts to about 1/3 of your life and effects everything else.  The number one factor to be happy is to have a purpose.  Feeling one is making the world a better place is important.  Also finding a purpose could involve feeling you have a meaningful role in the company.

If work doesn't give you a purpose, but you feel you can't quit, many people seek a purpose by volunteering.  Mihaly Csiksentmihalyi is known for the concept of flow. The ideal is to find activities when one is engaged in an activity where they are so engaged they lose concept of time.  If work doesn't seem to lead to flow, again volunteer work may offer more.

A controlling boss has a dilemma.  She (or he) may force a lazy worker to put in more effort, but others employees may resent the control and put in less effort.  Developing trust encourages employees to work harder.  Good bosses credit their team and recognize good efforts.  To build trust it is necessary to be honest, to think long term and to be empathetic.   

One of the stresses of work is commuting.  Seek employment near where you live (or move).  In Denmark cycling or walking to work is fairly common.  Meik points out "Cars run on money and make you fat--bikes run on fat and save you money".  

Money is sometimes required to put yourself in a happier work environment.  Meik suggests you should set up a fund for future opportunities.  It has been thought to be happy requires a lot of money, but wealth comes from having a lot of time to live and enjoy your time on this earth. 

The government can be very helpful in giving its citizens opportunities for happiness.  One area is to make it easier to bring new life into existence.  Some jurisdictions have a maternity leave and more recently that concept has expanded to paternity leave and even letting couples divide the time to their optimal benefit.  Meik suggests this allows couples to maximize their parental leave by adopting gender equality in household chores.

I have long listed Denmark as an example of proportional representation and their high ranking with the Happiness survey as a benefit.  Now I wonder are they happy because they picked an electoral conducive to happiness or is their happiness making them open to a better electoral system.  Years before my wife and I had enjoyed watching "Borgen" which illustrated the Danish electoral system and its logic.  See...  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/07/borgen.html

This a book well worth reading.  This post is only a taste of the good advice available in its pages.  Should be available at your local library or your favorite book seller. 

To keep up with the Happiness Research Institute see https://www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/

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