Episode 53.5 - Why Happy Workers Are More Productive (And What Actually Makes Us Happy)

In this minipod Kathy takes a brief detour from planners and systems to explore something every productivity framework quietly depends on: happiness. Drawing on Yale psychologist Laurie Santos's wildly popular Science of Wellbeing course, this episode unpacks why the things we chase most fiercely, promotion, money, status, rarely deliver the lasting happiness we expect. Santos calls it the satisfaction treadmill, and once you see it, you can't unsee it. Kathy shares the three research-backed habits that actually move the needle, and why the uncomfortable truth is that we already know what makes us happy. We're just very busy not choosing it.