Mapping what makes me happy

Posted: - Modified: | life, sketches

Thinking about what makes you happy is a good way to tweak your life so that you do more of the things that make you happier.

Here’s an incomplete, not-to-scale map of things that make me happy. I started by brainstorming lots of things, then moving them around in the Inkscape drawing program (it’s like magnetic poetry with an infinite refrigerator door!) until order emerged. Also, reading the book Back of the Napkin helped.

I’ve divided into things I do with other people and things I do with myself, and I’ll add more as other things occur to me.

Happiness map - click for full size

What’s your happiness map? Here’s how you can figure it out:

  1. Take a whole bunch of sticky notes, index cards, or other things you can write ideas on.
  2. List all the things you do that you enjoy.
  3. Move them around until an order makes sense. I sorted mine in order of increasing happiness, and then I grouped them by type.
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