The year was 2019. My company had just been acquired for over $300 million. I was standing at the finish line I’d been sprinting toward for years and I waited for the happiness to arrive.
It didn’t.
Not the deep, lasting kind, anyway. What I realized in that moment changed everything: career success was just one of five things that make me happy at the deepest level. I’d spent years overbuilding one area of my life while slowly neglecting the other four.
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what will make me happy once the milestones finally land, you’re not alone. The answer isn’t more success — it’s balance in life.
Here are the 10 things that make me happy, backed by science, and how to start using them today.
What are things that make me happy? The things that make me happy and that science confirms make people genuinely happier — include meaningful relationships, daily movement, personal growth, gratitude, purposeful work, small wins, kindness, presence, time in nature, and creative expression. Together, these habits address the core areas of life proven to drive deep, lasting fulfillment.
What Does Science Say About Things That Make People Happy?
Before we get to the list, it helps to understand why these things work.
Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky found that roughly 40% of our happiness is determined by our intentional daily activities — meaning nearly half of how happy you feel is within your direct control.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development — one of the longest-running studies on human well-being, spanning over 80 years — found that the quality of your relationships is the single strongest predictor of long-term happiness. Not wealth. Not fame. Relationships.
Martin Seligman’s PERMA model identifies five pillars of flourishing: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. Every item on this list maps to one or more of those pillars.
And the core principle that drives everything at Moore Momentum distills it further: Happiness = Growth. Not the destination — the momentum of moving forward. Stop growing, and happiness quietly starts to erode.
The things that make people happy aren’t random. They all trace back to the same proven areas of life. Here are ten of the most powerful ones.
10 Things That Make Me Happy (And Can Make You Happier Too)
1. Deep, Meaningful Relationships
The Harvard study is unambiguous: close relationships keep people happier and healthier throughout their lives more than money, fame, or social class. This is one of the most foundational things that make me happy, and the research couldn’t be clearer.
The goal isn’t more connections — it’s deeper ones. Schedule one real conversation this week with someone who matters to you. Not a text. A real conversation.
Read More: How to Heal from a Toxic Relationship
2. Moving Your Body Every Day
Physical movement releases endorphins, reduces cortisol, and has been shown to be as effective as medication for mild-to-moderate depression. You don’t need an hour at the gym. A 20-minute walk counts.
The trick is pairing movement with something you already enjoy — a podcast, a playlist, a friend. Make it something you get to do, not something you have to do.
3. Learning and Growing
Stagnation is the quiet enemy of happiness. When you stop growing, you stop generating the momentum that fuels real fulfillment. This is the principle at the heart of Moore Momentum: growth is happiness.
Pick one skill or topic and invest 10 focused minutes into it each day. The subject matters less than the act of consistent forward progress.
Read More: How to Develop a Learning Mindset
4. Practicing Gratitude
The brain has a built-in negativity bias — it’s wired to scan for threats and latch onto what’s wrong. Gratitude is the deliberate antidote. Studies consistently show it rewires neural pathways toward positivity over time.
This is one of those small things make me happy every day that requires almost no effort: three things you’re grateful for, every morning, before you check your phone. That’s it.
Read More: 11 Fun Gratitude Activities for Adults
5. Doing Work That Aligns With Your Strengths
Gallup research found that people who use their strengths daily are six times more likely to be engaged in their work. Career satisfaction isn’t about the paycheck alone — it’s about feeling like what you do matters and plays to who you are.
Identify your top two strengths and find one deliberate way to use them this week. Start small. Direction matters more than distance.
6. Small Wins and Daily Progress
James Clear puts it simply: tiny daily improvements compound into massive results. A 1% gain each day doesn’t feel like much — until you look back six months later and barely recognize where you started.
Progress even the smallest kind is its own reward. Set one micro-goal each morning and genuinely acknowledge when you hit it. Momentum builds on itself.
7. Acts of Kindness and Giving Back
Research in positive psychology shows that performing acts of kindness produces what’s often called a “helper’s high” — a genuine neurochemical boost that benefits the giver as much as the receiver.
One small, intentional act per day is enough. Hold a door. Send a genuine compliment. Check in on someone. These are among the most overlooked things that make you happy precisely because they seem too simple to matter.
8. Being Present in the Moment
A Harvard study on mind-wandering found that people spend nearly 47% of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing and that mind-wandering consistently predicted lower happiness.
You don’t need a meditation cushion. Start with one phone-free meal per day. That single shift can meaningfully change how connected and alive you feel.
9. Time in Nature
Research published in Frontiers in Psychology found that just 20 minutes in a natural environment significantly reduces cortisol levels. Time outside is one of the simplest things that make me happy and one of the most chronically underused.
A morning walk outside — even around the block — is enough to shift your baseline. No trail required.
10. Expressing Your Creativity and Passions
When you consistently suppress what lights you up — art, music, writing, cooking, building — it slowly drains your energy. Regular creative expression isn’t a luxury; it’s a fundamental need for emotional health.
Block 15 minutes a day for something purely expressive. Not productive. Not optimized. Just yours.
How to Make These Things That Make Me Happy an Actual Habit
Knowing what makes me happy and what can make me happy long-term are two different things. The real challenge is making these 10 items consistent enough to actually change your life.
That’s where behavioral science comes in. The Moore Momentum System is built around three Momentum Boosting Methods designed to reduce the friction between knowing and doing:
- Make it Obvious — Design your environment so the cue for each habit is impossible to miss
- Make it Easy — Shrink the habit to its smallest possible version to eliminate any reason not to start
- Make it Fun — Attach something you already enjoy to each habit to create a natural reward loop
You can use AI to personalize a plan around any of these 10 habits right now. Try this prompt in ChatGPT or Claude:
“I want to build the habit of [insert habit from the list above]. Help me apply three methods to make it stick: 1) Make it Obvious, 2) Make it Easy, 3) Make it Fun/Rewarding. Ask me about my current schedule, environment, and preferences before giving recommendations.”
How to make me happy isn’t a mystery anymore. It’s a set of daily decisions — and with the right system behind you, those decisions get easier every single day.
🚀 READY TO TURN THESE 10 HABITS INTO A PERSONALIZED GROWTH PLAN?
The strategies above come directly from the AI-powered Moore Momentum System — a science-backed, gamified platform designed to help you build exactly these kinds of habits across all 5 Core Areas of Life, personalized to you.
Take the Core Values Quiz to get your personalized Momentum Score in under 60 seconds and unlock a custom AI Momentum Map that shows you exactly where to start and how to build your first Golden Habit.
Start your personalized AI assessment HERE!
🚀🚀🚀 Don’t forget to check out our RESOURCE ARCADE 👾🎮 for FREE templates and tools to gamify your habits.
