Measure Your Happiness and Learn How to Build More of It
Discover what truly drives your well-being through a science-based self-assessment from Harvard professor and bestselling author Arthur Brooks. The Happiness Scale is a quick, research-based tool that shows how you experience emotions day-to-day and how those patterns influence your happiness. In just 10 minutes, you’ll get a personalized report revealing your emotional strengths, challenges, and practical ways to grow.

PERSONAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Arthur writes that the “anti-boredom machines” at our fingertips provide constant simulation, pushing you away from the brain’s right hemisphere-where wonder, numinosity, and meaning reside. Which distractions (digital or otherwise) most often keep you from doing what is truly meaningful in your life?
2. Life feels meaningless when you don’t have answers to the these big questions. Try answering these questions as seriously and honestly as possible: Why do things, good or bad, happen in my life? Why am I moving in my current direction? Why, and to whom, does my life matter? What role does your faith play in these questions?
3. Suffering is one of the ways we access the mysterious complexity of life and learn its meaning. Think back to a time in your life when you experienced great change or suffering. How did it contribute to your personal growth or understanding of your life’s meaning? Did that event change how you choose to respond to future challenges?

1. Think about your current job. Where can you find opportunities to serve or support others, even if your work feels routine or not very meaningful? Brainstorm a couple of ideas and share with your group.
2. Arthur writes that if you become a student of beauty, it will reveal the meaning of your life. How do you find yourself “studying beauty”? Is it through nature, art, music? Is it through moral beauty, such as surrounding yourself with people who serve and are kind to others? How has studying beauty brought you closer to meaning in your life?
3. Arthur guides readers to live a new, old-fashioned life— finding meaning by “just relaxing into the normality of love, work, faith, beauty, and inevitable suffering.” Which one of these elements do you need to explore more? What’s one intentional way you can make time in your life to enrich your understanding of meaning?

The Meaning of Your Life by Arthur Brooks

Share Arthur’s latest book with someone you know—perfect for new graduates this spring!

The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast

Hear Arthur Brooks share what makes a meaningful life.

Digital Leadership Labs Resources

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