The Happier Method™

The Happier Method helps you strengthen your emotional fitness so you can struggle less through challenges and uncertainty -- and thrive more in work and life!

The Happier Method™

"Life is full of challenges. But you can struggle less through those challenges and thrive more in work and life. This is what the Happier Method is all about." ~Nataly Kogan

The Happier Method helps you strengthen your emotional fitness and improve your well-being by creating a more supportive relationship with yourself, your thoughts and emotions, and with others.

Backed by science, this method is practical, accessible, and created for real people with busy lives and many responsibilities. (Aka you can practice it as part of your daily work and life.)

The foundation (a mini neuroscience lesson)

We need to start with the bad news: Your brain doesn't care about your well-being or happiness.

Its main job is to keep you safe from danger (which is helpful because staying alive is awesome.)

This means your brain is always searching for possible danger — real or imagined! — which can lead to unnecessary stress, worry, and even self-criticism.

Here are just a few reasons why:

Negativity bias: Your brain naturally over-focuses on anything negative and ignores familiar, positive moments and experiences
Fear of uncertainty: Uncertainty is your brain's least favorite thing (because it makes it really hard to do its main job), so it makes up really negative, worst-case scenarios to give itself a false sense of certainty
Default thinking patterns: You see things not as they are, but as your brain believes they are based on its previous experience — which might not even be relevant!

Watch this video where Nataly explains more and gives tips to help!

You are in charge of your brain!

The great news is that there are proven ways to shift or edit your thoughts when they cause you to struggle or prevent you from doing what's meaningful to you. And with practice, you can actually develop a more supportive relationship with yourself and others — which helps you struggle less and thrive more in every area of your life.

This is what the Happier Method helps you do!

3 Core Principles of the Happier Method:

Challenge is constant, but struggle is optional.

Big or small, challenges are an inevitable part of life, but you can struggle less when they come your way by strengthening your emotional fitness and creating a more supportive relationship with yourself, your thoughts and emotions, and other people.

Emotional fitness is a SKILL you can improve with practice.

Just as you can develop your physical fitness, you can develop your emotional fitness. But instead of your body, you’re training your brain — to help you navigate the rollercoaster of life instead of causing you to struggle with all kinds of unhelpful thoughts.

Small changes = big impact.

Small inner shifts in your mindset and in how you respond to your brain’s thoughts and emotions, can make a huge difference. (Aka, no dramatic life changes required!) Even when you’re going through a difficult time or facing a tough challenge, you can struggle less.

The Happier Method is made up of 5 Core Emotional Fitness Skills:

ACCEPTANCE: Acknowledging the situation and your feelings with clarity instead of getting caught up in the story your brain has created and using that as your starting point to decide the best way forward.

GRATITUDE: Making an active choice to notice the small, positive moments in everyday life — even when times are challenging — and to share your appreciation for other people with them.

SELF-CARE: Fueling your emotional, mental, and physical energy.

INTENTIONAL KINDNESS: Being intentionally kind towards others without expecting anything in return.

THE BIGGER WHY: Regularly connecting to your sense of purpose by looking at your daily tasks, projects, responsibilities through the lens of how they help others, contribute to something bigger than yourself, or help you reach a meaningful long-term goal.

Practice your Emotional Fitness Skills!

When you want to improve and maintain your physical fitness, you practice regularly by eating healthy, getting some exercise — you know the drill. It's the same with your emotional fitness, you gotta practice! We've created so many awesome ways to incorporate practice in your daily life. (We promise it doesn’t take long and you won't have to wait ages for it to work — you'll begin to feel the benefits immediately!)