Nataly Kogan has gone from Russian Jewish Immigrant to Venture Capitalist to CEO/Happiness Seeker. As such she created a very cool app (Happier, see below) and spends hours each day sifting through what makes people happy. Great job if you can get it.
She found these themes running through her bazillion Happier posts; how many of these can you fit in your day today?
If it makes you happy…
- Surprise Someone (flowers, a latte, a whole party)
- Get outside and get your heart pumping (go on a walk or bike ride)
- Contribute to a cause you care about (I just found out I can raise money for my kids’ school by running a half marathon – check and check)
- Take the time to make your morning awesome (What works for you: music, meditation, muffin?)
- Do something creative (hooray for crafts and projects)
- Spend time with friends
- Appreciate beautiful stuff all around you
- Make plans you can’t wait for (see Whitney’s recent trapeze date night)
- Tell someone at work they’re awesome (Whitney, you’re awesome and I’m so lucky this is my job!!)
- Appreciate your lucky breaks (good parking, the hot donut light, a long nap, giggling baby, all good!)
So, about that app. Having found that the communities on Facebook and Instagram didn’t do a good enough job sharing of happy moments, Nataly and her team created the Happier App specifically for sharing what lifts us up.
As of this writing, I have a library of 64 happy moments that I can revisit whenever I need a smile. And a stream of other folks’ happy times that I can smile and comment on. Sometimes, the app even texts me, “Hey, remember that adorable booty-shaking family dance party?”. That’s a nice message to get.
What I don’t love about the app: I really enjoy using this app, but I will say that it cannibalizes my contributions to Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter (in that order).
Related Stuff:
- See the whole Simple Ways to be Happier Presentation>
- Watch Nataly at TEDxBoston talking about How Pancakes Can Make You Happier and Change the World.
- All the stuff on our site about getting happier!
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Now I understand why I got that text message from you telling me you are lucky this is your job. It was about YOUR happiness! Ha! The app looks compelling.
Ha ha Whitney, the app gives prompts and I got one like, “Did your colleague do something today to make you smile?”