People who value time over money tend to be happier, according to multiple studies. And new research in the journal Science Advances
shows that this is particularly true as a person leaves college, facing
weighty career choices while perhaps saddled with debt. Graduates who
value time over money are more likely to pursue things they enjoy,
including hobbies, social relationships, internships, and careers that
provide intrinsic satisfaction rather than merely seeking compensation,
the study suggests.
Researchers
asked 1,000 graduating students at the University of British Columbia
to rate how satisfied they felt with their lives overall, and the extent
to which they had experienced positive emotions (like joy and
happiness) and negative emotions (like sadness and stress) over the past
four weeks. A year later, the graduates were surveyed again.
In
both surveys, about 62% of them said they value time more than money,
and those people were happier. Comparing the time-money trade-off to
other well-established happiness factors, the researchers found that
valuing time over money brought double the magnitude of happiness
related to materialism in general and happiness known to accrue from
high parental income. And while the study does not prove cause and
effect, it suggests that valuing time over money can also predict how
happy the graduates become as adults. The graduates in the study came
from families with incomes ranging from low to high, but family
socioeconomic status was not predictive of their tendency to prioritize
time or money.
“People
who value time make decisions based on meaning versus money,” says
study leader Ashley Whillans, an assistant professor of business
administration at Harvard Business School. “They choose to do things
because they want to, not because they have to.”
It
must be noted that the study surveyed students at the University of
British Columbia in Canada. It’s unclear, without a separate study, how
the results might be different among U.S. graduates. Whillans guesses —
and she emphasizes that this is a guess — that what matters isn’t where
students go to school but how much debt they graduate with. “If they
graduate with more debt, they might feel happier in the short term
valuing money more than time” and choosing a job to pay the bills, she
says. “If they graduate with less debt, they might feel less happy in
the short term valuing money more than time.”
“People
who value time make decisions based on meaning versus money. They
choose to do things because they want to, not because they have to.”
Other research links time to happiness throughout adulthood. A 2016 study
of 4,000 U.S. adults found that people who valued time more than money
were “happier and more satisfied with life than the people who chose
money,” even after the researchers accounted for differences in age,
income, and the amount of time people spent at work or at leisure. In a
Pew Research Center survey,
when asked to rank various activities based on meaningfulness, people
chose spending time with family, outdoors, and with friends as the top
three, followed by spending time with pets, listening to music, reading,
and religion. In eighth place: job or career.
Of
course, reality forces everyone to place some value on money. “Work
equals status in U.S. work culture,” Whillans says. “We are taught that
time equals money, and financial insecurity makes us focus more on money
and less on time.”
Money can buy some happiness — but only up to a point, research has shown. In the United States, the threshold is about $95,000.
People making up to that amount annually tend to report being happier
than people who make less. “Once the threshold was reached, further
increases in income tended to be associated with reduced life
satisfaction and a lower level of well-being,” researchers stated last
year in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
Meanwhile,
there’s no known ceiling on the happiness generated by a few hours
carved out for friends and family or days of well-spent leisure time.
Older adults seem to be wiser about this. “As people age, they often
want to spend time in more meaningful ways than just making money,”
Whillans says.
In
previous research, Whillans and a colleague, psychology professor
Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia, found that buying
time — such as paying for someone to cook or to clean the house — brings
more satisfaction than buying stuff. In a survey of more than 6,000
people in the United States, Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands, those
who spent the most on time-saving purchases reported higher levels of
life satisfaction.
With
that knowledge in mind, the researchers gave 60 people $40 each to
spend on a time-saving purchase one weekend, and another $40 to spend on
a material purchase another weekend. No surprise, the people felt
happier after buying some time. But in another survey, when working
adults were asked how they’d spend a sudden windfall of $40, only 2%
said they’d invest in time.
Perhaps
that helps explain why Americans suffer from what Whillans calls a
“famine of time.” The sense of “having enough time” is at an all-time
low, she wrote earlier this year in the Harvard Business Review, adding that this feeling doesn’t just reduce happiness, it raises levels of anxiety, stress, and depression.
To
reduce “time stress,” you need a change in mindset, Whillans advises.
Start by making plans for free time. You may favor spontaneity, but lack
of planning leads to wasted nights and weekends, she says.
Consider
volunteering. “Even giving up a few hours of a paycheck to volunteer at
a food bank may have more bang for your buck in making you feel
happier,” Whillans says. Multiple studies have found that people who
volunteer their time are happier, healthier, and live longer. One study even found that volunteering time makes people feel like they have more of it, perhaps because “giving away time boosts one’s sense of personal competence and efficiency,” the researchers speculate.
And
get active. Hanging out with friends, exercising, heading to the
mountains or the beach for a dose of awe, or doing just about anything
physical “is profoundly better at combating time stress than passive
leisure” such as watching TV, Whillans says.
People who value time over money tend to be happier, according to multiple studies. And new research in the journal Science Advances
shows that this is particularly true as a person leaves college, facing
weighty career choices while perhaps saddled with debt. Graduates who
value time over money are more likely to pursue things they enjoy,
including hobbies, social relationships, internships, and careers that
provide intrinsic satisfaction rather than merely seeking compensation,
the study suggests.
Money can buy some happiness — but only up to a point, research has shown. In the United States, the threshold is about $95,000.
People making up to that amount annually tend to report being happier
than people who make less. “Once the threshold was reached, further
increases in income tended to be associated with reduced life
satisfaction and a lower level of well-being,” researchers stated last
year in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
To
reduce “time stress,” you need a change in mindset, Whillans advises.
Start by making plans for free time. You may favor spontaneity, but lack
of planning leads to wasted nights and weekends, she says.
No comments:
Post a Comment