The blue zones of happiness: Lessons From the World’s Happiest People by Dan Buettner

Dear daughter,

When I found the book The blue zones of happiness by Dan Buettner, I didn’t know that there are many published books about happiness. I found it very interesting because of the facts that the author shows. So, I create a summary for you.

The book is divided into three main parts:

• Blueprint for a happier life. This part is about what the author knows about happiness.
• The world’s happier places. In this part, the author describes some places that are considered the happier places in the world.
• Happier by design. Here, you will find guidance on how to make your environment a place where you can be happier.

This book is heavy in information and examples. I’ll try to summarize what can be more helpful for you.

The author aims to show us actions we can take to make our lives happier. So, let’s get to it.

Part 1: Blueprint for a happier life

First, the author starts by showing us what is happiness.

Here, the author describes three happy people.

They all have different (material) things, behave in different ways, and are proud of different things.

The first thing to note here is the answer to the question “what is happiness?” is different for everyone.

What can make you happy might not make happy someone else.

However, the author of the book found out that happy people managed to combine and insert into their lives what he calls the three P’s: pleasure, purpose, and pride.

Do you know what your three P’s are?

Later in the book, the author describes how to find them.

There is extensive research on happiness made by “psychologists, economists, sociologists, and policy experts of all stripes”.

Did you know that there is a World Happiness Report that measures “how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries worldwide”? Me neither, until I read this book.

Now, the author recommends that you start first by knowing how happy you are. For this, he provides a questionnaire that you must fill in. The goal is to identify what are the factors that make you happy now and contrast them with the author’s findings.

After giving you the questionnaire, the author tells you how to read and interpret the results. This is great!

Part two: The world’s happier places

After you learn more about your own happiness, with the questionnaire and the guide to interpret it, the author describes three of the happier places in the world in the second part of the book.

Apart from showing you what is going on in these three happy places, it starts showing you things you can do to become happier.

At the end of this part, the author gives suggestions for leaders.

Yes, some things happen in the happier places that are at policy levels. Because of this, leaders should act as drivers of happiness.

“The happiness and prosperity of our citizens…is the only legitimate object of government.”

—Thomas Jefferson, 1811

Part three: Happier by design

This is the part I like the most from the book. Although I like the whole book.

The reason is that it offers actionable tips to create a happier environment for you. I’ve been experiencing most of the things the author recommends in my life, and I can tell you, my daughter, it really makes a difference.

This part is divided into seven chapters as follows:

• Designing Happy Communities
• Designing the Workplace
• Designing Your Social Network
• Designing Your Home
• Designing Financial Well-Being
• Designing Your Inner Life

In all cases, it is about designing or changing our surroundings.

Designing Happy Communities

In this chapter, the author describes what are the main characteristics of happy communities. There are several factors.

After he describes several such places, he gives the following blueprint to design a happy community:

1. Seek a healthy lifestyle.
2. Design a community that favors humans over cars.
3. Limit urban sprawl.
4. Limit smoking.
5. Invest in beauty, especially in natural beauty.
6. Create a leadership committee. This one is about creating leaders that inspire the community and create policies that increase people’s life quality.
7. Bring in expertise.
8. Find ways to measure well-being.

You can see that some of these topics fall into policies that sometimes we cannot influence much. However, we can look for places that have these characteristics so we can live in a better environment. Also, there several things that we can do to bring some of these characteristics into our current environment.

Designing the Workplace

Do you remember the author’s three Ps?

He mentions in his chapter that it is about finding the right balance among the three P’s: pleasure, purpose, and pride.

Now, see the blueprint for designing a better workplace:

• Seek a job that fits you.
• Seek a job that fits you.
• Consider your work hours.
• Avoid long commutes.
• Set goals.

Do you remember the last one? from some of our previous conversations?

Yes, setting goals is key to happiness also.

As explained to you, setting goals will help you to achieve more things. But most important, it will help achieve the things you want to achieve.

This helps you to plan your life, instead of you sitting and letting life happen to you.

Designing Your Social Network

This is a topic mentioned in many self-help books.

It is very useful to be closer to people that make you better, people who achieved things you want to achieve. Instead of being around people that spend all their time complaining, or just like to waste their time.

Here is the blueprint the author provides to design your social network:

• Prioritize friends and family. I’ll say prioritize family and friends.
• Hang out with happy people.
• Create a moai. A moai is a group of people willing to support each other in the long run.
• Join a club. This is about finding people that have common interests with you.
• Optimize your love life. “Evidence and experience both suggest that the person most likely to shape your sense of well-being is the one you choose as your partner.”
• Make marriage count. “The best marriages bring together two people who share many interests but also allow each other independence, who speak freely and listen well.” Always listen, my dear daughter, first seek to understand, then seek to be understood. You can read more about that here.
• Be realistic about parenthood. Don’t assume that you and will partner will be happier together because you have children. This is a mistake that many women make. Also, be aware of the responsibilities and lifestyle changes that a child brings in. Don’t misunderstand me, a child is one of the greatest things that one can have in this life. I’m just saying, as the author also points out, that is not a solution to existing problems, and we should be prepared for the changes.

Designing Your Home

The author mentioned that the price of the house where you live, how fancy it is, or how big, makes no difference in the happiness level you can get from your house.

Here is the blueprint the author provides to design a home that can improve your happiness:

• Declutter. If you don’t use it regularly, you probably don’t need it. So, get rid of it.
• Bring in nature. Very straightforward.
• Maximize natural light.
• Create a flow room. This is a room without distractions, free from electronic devices, where you and your family can enjoy quality time together.
• Bring music into your life. Yes, I know, you already have this one! LOL.
• Limit screens. Are you paying attention? The cellphone screen is also a screen, so put a limit on it.
• Designate a meditation space. I still must work on this one.
• Favor front porches over the deck out back.
• Adopt a pet.
• Create a pride shrine. “… a place where pictures, objects, and other items remind everyone of things they share and can be proud of.”
• Optimize your bedroom for sleep. Here I’ll give you one of the translations of this action: Put your cellphone far away from the bed. Yes, I know you, big kiss.

Designing Financial Well-Being

Dear daughter, of course, the financial topic is part of happiness. Remember this: “the myth about money”?

Here is the blueprint the author suggests in the book for this topic:

• Enroll in an automatic savings or investment plan.
• Consider insurance.
• Reconsider your credit card. Remember this: Do I need a credit card?
• Rent instead of own. Remember this: Should I buy or rent a house?
• Pay down (or off) your mortgage. What is a mortgage?
• Gift experiences, not things.
• Make financially savvy friends (or mates).

Designing Your Inner Life

Last but not least, is about your inner self.

Here is what the author suggests as a blueprint:

• Know your purpose.
• Learn the art of likability.
• Focus on others. This is also described in three of the seven habits of highly effective people.
• Get out of your comfort zone.
• Learn meditation.
• Keep the faith.

As I told you before, this summary gives you a big picture of the book, but it is not a substitute for all the great examples and explanations from the author of the book. I encourage you to read the book, so you get a deeper understanding of the blue zones of happiness.

Once you read it, we can share our experiences and own examples, but most important, how we will apply all the knowledge that is in this book, in our lives.

Love you, Dad.

I share the letters I write to my daughter so more people can benefit from them. If you want to buy this book, you can check it out on Amazon using this link.