The Power of Nature: Enhancing Happiness and Well-being

We make countless decisions every day, from choosing what we’ll have for breakfast to determining whether we have the time to take a break from our busy schedule and go for a walk. Not all decisions require the same amount of effort. And while the big decisions certainly deserve our time and attention, it can be easy to overlook how the small decisions we make every day accumulate and influence our quality of life. In today’s episode, we continue our exploration of how to master your wealth and well-being by offering a collection of concrete strategies for planning your life and your finances. Tuning in you’ll learn about the small but significant steps you can take to improve both your financial health and your mental health, and how they accumulate to give you greater happiness and improve your quality of life. We unpack popular financial advice, like why you should invest in experiences rather than stuff — and the one exception to this rule — along with more complex ideas, like why spending time in nature is so beneficial for us, and how you can reach a flow state in more areas of your life. Be sure to tune in as we break down our good life principles and help you navigate the many small decisions that can amount to a much greater quality of life!

Key Points From This Episode:

(0:01:39) Good life principles and actionable strategies for planning your life and finances: how deliberate, small decisions accumulate and influence your quality of life. 

(0:03:40) Why you should choose experiences over stuff — unless it facilitates experiences. 

(0:09:11) Tips on maximizing your time and avoiding distractions with the ‘times left’ exercise and how to pay attention to detail when forecasting future happiness. 

(0:17:31) The value of reflecting on what you’re grateful for and learning to be more mindful of small, everyday joys. 

(0:19:02) Prioritizing time over money and what prevents people from doing this. 

(0:21:35) The rule of adaptation and why spending time in nature is so beneficial for us. 

(0:23:54) What you can do to improve the way you commute. 

(0:26:36) Limits we have on our time and bundling good habits to be more time efficient. 

(0:30:27) Finding flow states in your life, your work and at home; how this improves resilience, satisfaction, and happiness. 

(0:37:20) The importance of relationships and engaging in prosocial behaviours. 

(0:38:56) Decision policies: what they are, how to set them, and why they’re so helpful. 

(0:41:03) How knowing your values can help you in your decision-making. 

(0:42:03) Using regret to your advantage, and how to ‘satisfice’ on small decisions rather than trying to maximize them. 

(0:47:10) Goal setting, and the satisfaction we get from pursuing goals. 

(0:48:50) A quick recap of key principles discussed today. 

Links From Today’s Episode:

Benjamin Felix — https://www.pwlcapital.com/author/benjamin-felix/ 

Benjamin on X — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix

Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/

PWL Capital - https://www.pwlcapital.com/

Dr. Mark Soth (The Loonie Doctor) — https://www.looniedoctor.ca/

Dr. Mark on X — https://twitter.com/LoonieDoctor

Money Scope - https://moneyscope.ca/

Give Yourself a Nudge: Helping Smart People Make Smarter Personal and Business Decisions — https://www.amazon.com/Give-Yourself-Nudge-Personal-Decisions/dp/1108715621

Episode 238: Ralph Keeney — https://rationalreminder.ca/podcast/238

Episode 226: Colonel Chris Hadfield — https://rationalreminder.ca/podcast/226

Episode 222: Cassie Holmes — https://rationalreminder.ca/podcast/222

Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most — https://www.cassiemholmes.com/happierhour