The Retirement Wisdom Podcast The New Happy – Stephanie Harrison
Happy New Year! What will make you happy this year? Our guest today, Stephanie Harrison, author of New Happy, believes that it’s time to retire the old beliefs about happiness. If you’re moving on from full-time work, you’ll want to hear her research-based ideas to reimagine what happiness will be like in this new phase of life – and how to move on from the “old happy.”
In addition to her book, I highly recommend her newsletter, and join over 1 million people who also love her work.
Stephanie Harrison joins us from California.
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Bio
Stephanie Harrison is author of New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong and the creator of the New Happy philosophy and an expert in the science of well-being. Her company, The New Happy, teaches millions of people around the world how to be happier every day.
She has a Masters Degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was later an instructor. Previously, she was the head of Learning at Thrive Global, where she directed the development of science-backed programs for well-being that reaches millions of employees at Fortune 500 companies around the world.
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For More on Stephanie Harrison
Read New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong
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Mentioned in This Episode
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Podcast Episodes You May Like
Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD
Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman
The Power of Fun – Catherine Price
The Good Life – Marc Schulz, PhD
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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.
About Retirement Wisdom
I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.
Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.
About Your Podcast Host
Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.
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Wise Quotes
The New Happy vs. Old Happy
“I now define happiness in a very different way than I did when I was younger…It’s the state of being connected to yourself, others, and the world around you. That’s how I would describe the experience of it. And then I define the pathway to getting that as having these two pillars of being who you are and then using who you are to help other people. So that, which I just said, is the New Happy. And then Old Happy is what society teaches us about happiness – what we need to do and achieve and become in order to experience that state of well-being that we’re all looking for. And Old Happy tells us that if we want to be happy, we have these three core tasks that we have to accomplish. We have to perfect ourselves, essentially optimize ourselves in every possible way. We have to achieve certain societally approved goals, things that are venerated or celebrated in our society. And three, we have to do everything alone. We are separate from other people and we have to do these things without leaning on them, without asking for help, without being a part of a community.”
On Retirement & Identity
“…if your identity is entirely centred upon your workplace role and your title, then of course it feels incredibly destabilizing if that’s taken away. It’s like you’re trying to live in a house with the foundation ripped out. It’s not going to work very well. And I think that there are different things that you can do depending on what stage you’re in, whether you’re approaching retirement or already in a state of retirement. But if you’re already retired and you’re experiencing that loss of identity, what I would tell you is that you have so many wonderful, amazing gifts that just need a new location to be used. They don’t have to be used in the same way that they were before. So if you were working at a job and you had this amazing career and you developed all of these skills and talents, then that gives you something to use. And those things are very much needed in the world, in our communities, in nonprofits, in our families and all of these different environments. And so what I would say to you is separate yourself from the job, identify the skills that you now possess through all of that work, and then think about where could I use these? Where could I be of service and use these to support other people? And that’s going to help you to rediscover who you are, but also to bring you that sense of meaning that often disappears with retirement.”
On Purpose
“I think purpose is inextricably tied to happiness. I’m not sure that there’s a real experience of happiness that’s divorced from purpose. I say that because scientists often break up happiness into these two different dimensions. There’s hedonic happiness, which is essentially pleasure, feeling good and then there’s eudaimonic happiness, which is what I’m talking about. And that’s essentially living at your fullest capacity and cultivating yourself in a way that contributes also to the world around you. And if you’re doing that, then you’ve inevitably found some sort of purpose in your life. And I think that the purpose is what gives us a much more stable experience of happiness. Your purpose is something where it drives you every single day. It provides you with meaningful feedback and the opportunity to grow, and the chance to see how your efforts matter and make a difference. We can find purpose in our jobs, of course, but there are so many other venues that it can be found in as well, whether that’s through sharing your knowledge and your wisdom with people who are younger than you, who desperately need it, who are looking for these answers and don’t know where to find it.”