How To Not Take Life Too Seriously (and Why Research Says It Matters)

One secret to happiness I’ve discovered is simple. Don’t take life seriously. I have heard billionaires, athletes, and President Barack Obama say it. Specifically, they say you should take your business (or career) seriously, but not themselves. But how?
Most people cannot keep in mind the bigger picture. So many of us are fortunate to have been born healthy, with all our limbs, no diseases, and to not have to worry about food.
Over 2 billion people live off less than $2 a day. As Americans, we’re born lucky. If you’re making $32,400 a year, you’re in the top 1%. Yet many of us get so caught up in the superficial small things of life that we forget this. Do you know someone who’s making a lot of money but still gets frustrated or angry at the smallest inconveniences?

Seriously, I’m the worst at it. It has to be genetic. To this day, family and friends will occasionally tell me I take things too seriously and dwell on bad events too much. Here are a few examples of when it happens:

* when a kid poured a cup of water over my head for fun at a potluck
* when people show up late
* when screw up a part of a presentation
* when someone offends me or break the rules
* when bad short-term circumstances (poor dating life, low income) cause me to forget the bigger picture (I’m in the top 1% of the world)

Problems With Taking Life Too Seriously
What are the consequences of this? Well, there’s a ton.
For one, you scare away people — potential lovers, potential friends, or career opportunities. Us intellectual men do that. We get too wrapped up in logic to remember that the bigger picture is to connect and win someone over emotionally.
Second, you’re causing yourself unnecessary suffering and reducing your lifespan with stress. Seriously, no pun intended, why do we get so pissed off that someone cut us off in the road when it always happens and the anger isn’t useful?
I’ll tell you why. It’s genetic. Fortunately, there are systems to take life less seriously even if you aren’t wired that way. I’ll break them down for you so you can live a happier life in this podcast episode.
They aren’t in control of their mood or life as much as they think. A person pissed off in traffic because someone cut him off even though he’s healthy, young, and mentally capable has at least those three things, if few more, he’s taken for granted. He has failed to be grateful and has been caught up in the life’s minor road bumps, something that ironically shouldn’t throw him off because they should be expected in any life.
It took decades, but the billionaire Ted Leonsis gets it. In his book, The Business of Happiness (affiliate link), he was stuck in a traffic jam, watching someone else blows up in a puff of anger, while he sat there and observed a beautiful sunset in peace and awe.
Taking your life less seriously will make yourself a lot happier, extend your life, improve enjoyment of life, and make you a much more enjoyable person to be around that attracts others like a magnet. That’s because you move past the small things that shouldn’t bug you and you reduce the toll that stress and resentment take on your body.
Also, your improved resiliency helps when you hit hard times. Life will probably deal you a tough blow at some point: you aren’t making money, you’re hungry, your professional and romantic life take a jump, the economy tanks, another world war happens, and so on.
These are the easiest of times to get mad and take life too seriously. The rare, socially savvy who understand the greater picture of the universe are the ones who can laugh or poke fun ...