Passion Project

project three

The Happiness Project

Hello!

I am going to ask you

1 Question

and

I want you to answer in three seconds

Keep scrolling down

ARE YOU READY?

Here we go

are you happy?

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can happiness levels go up once you start being happy about small little things in everyday life?

Prologue

Living in the 21st Century probably divided our time usage into tiny segments compare to 20th Century. Maybe it is also the era where people constantly multitask the most in our history.

You are a master of multitasking! I mean… “short span” multitasking master.

As an extreme millennial example, You 1) look at the phone 2) liking cute puppy pictures on social media as you 3) listen to music while 4) your uber app notifies you that you are arriving at the restaurant for a birthday dinner that 5) you were notified by the calendar notification on your phone.

I am talking about time segments as a minute unit. As our brains get used to scattering their attention process into a minute-long task, or even a few seconds, a lot of people start losing the sense of having a break without doing anything.

We rather react than reflect

The more we have references that fill our brains with information, we rather react than reflect. It becomes a one-way communication that just ends; instead of having a ripple effect communication that leads you to a continuous thinking chain. A busy lifestyle also doesn't allow us to just think freely.

This leads to my next bullet point :

We give less meaning to the meanings

For me, I started to have less reflection time as I got older. Things I had to take care of grew exponentially, which later totally occupied my limited 24 hours/day. As a result, I started to not pay attention to what’s around me; what makes my everyday special, or what I have missed as I was paying attention to the others.

What is happiness? What makes happiness? What changes happiness?

Once in a while, often, or never (which is almost impossible), everyone goes through a dark time. Depression? quarter-life crisis? bad day? or a huge unexpected bad incident in your life? We all need life turning points, some inspiration, or any occasion that could switch our mindset. However, that requires total luck.

I had my own reflection time when the quarter-life crisis came to me. Sleepless nights forced me to think of "Happiness." What is happiness? what makes happiness? How does one feel happy and why? How can you be happy?

Can you make yourself happy and happier?

PROJECT THREE

This is my very simple experimental project. It is nothing new, revolutionary, or innovative. It is a habitual practice: a simple diary project that anyone can do but not everyone does. So I decided to structure the system by borrowing design as an enabler tool.

Consistent repetition + awareness + act was the thinking mechanism.

Everyday

30 minutes

3 things

3 months

Spend 30 minutes every day

Doing a thing every day consistently converts 'thing' into 'something'

Think of 3 things & document them

1. Share & Give Something you cherished, gave, provided, or did something for other people/things besides yourself

2. Be thankful for something you were thankful

3. Discover & Receive something you learned new, realized, were inspired, or gave you a different perspective

Circle of life. You are never complete by yourself.

Begin

Project three journey begins now. Write down the date.

I am ____ and I am ____

Before the diary part begins, write down your name. Circle your current happiness stage.

Just your name and date. That's all that matters

I intentionally didn't ask for any specific descriptions such as age, gender, marital status, career, etc. Let's not make those elements define your happiness level. Let's just focus on you.

Illustration, not a word description

Words could sometimes pre-decide your decision-making. Though, giving an image makes you think, interpret on your own, and lets you define.

Daily Spread

Here is where you are going to spend your 30 minutes thinking and documenting. Write down the day, date, time, and three things.

End Page

Congratulations! you finished one month of project three! For the record, let's write the day and date!

I am ___ and I am ___

Wait. Didn't I see this page a month ago?

Yes, you did.

Back to the place where you began.

Comparison. See the change.

‘Project three’ book begins and ends with the same page. Remind yourself who you are. Think of your happiness status.

Before

Beginning of the project three

After

End of the project three

Who you are didn't change

but

How you are - did change

Did your perspective of viewing the world change?

If it did,

are you happier now?

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“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

- Mahatma Gandhi -

SOCIAL IMPACT

Since I was young, I've always wanted to participate in charity foundations or start my own charity project. It was on my life bucket list.

Surprisingly, working through the steps of ? ! · + for Project Three made me think of its impact on one person but also others, it's personal impact but also social impact. In the end, I've decided to expand this project into a social impact project for its + step.

30% Donation

30% of the revenue generated by customer's purchase of Project Three will support an official depression research foundation "Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF)."