It’s a lot easier to AVOID things that make you miserable than to predict what will make you happy.

There’s an incredible @Harvard Study from 1938 that sheds light on just how to avoid a miserable life.

In 2013, reading it caused me to quit drinking and changed my life...

In 1938, Harvard enrolled 268 sophomores (all men due to the time) into The Study of Adult Development.

They also recruited a group of 456 inner city male Bostonians as a control group.

268 wealthy Harvard undergrads and 456 working class men from some of Boston's worst neighbourhoods, in one long term study to see how their lives would turn out...

Every year, they tracked these men to see how their lives turned out, including psychological and physical evaluations.

One became president of the United States. John F. Kennedy.

Others became bankers, lawyers, and doctors.

Some rose to the top from nothing and others fell off the ladder despite being given every opportunity.

83 years later, after conducting...

Thousands of interviews

MRIs

Blood samples

Skull measurements

Interviews with their wives and over 2,000 children

These are the key findings:

Alcohol Ruins Lives

Alcoholism was the main cause of divorce and unstable relationships between the men and their wives.

It caused neurosis and depression.

It was the single greatest contributor to misery and death.

Marriage Matters

The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80.

Women who felt secure with their partners were less depressed and more happy in their relationships.

They also had better memory than those with unhappy marriages.

Those who had unhappy marriages felt both more emotional and physical pain.

People who had happy marriages in their 80’s reported that their moods didn’t suffer even on the days when they had more physical pain.

Invest in Friendships

Financial success depends on warmth of relationships and EQ, not on intelligence.

Those who scored highest on measurements of "warm relationships" earned an average of $141,000 a year more at their peak salaries (usually between ages 55 and 60).

IQ ≠ money

There was no significant difference in income earned by men with IQs in the 110–115 range and men with IQs higher than 150.

Some other interesting stuff:

- Positive relationships with mothers in childhood earned more, were more effective, and happier in life

- Positive relationships with fathers in childhood is correlated with lower rates of anxiety, better vacations, and a happier life

- Liberals have more sex. Most conservative men stopped having sex at 68, while liberal men had active sex lives into their 80s

George Vaillant, the director of the study, wrote an incredible book summarizing the results called The Triumphs of Experience. https://www.amazon.com/Triumphs-Experience-Harvard-Grant-Study/dp/0674503813

Reading it made me quit drinking cold turkey (at the time, I was drinking heavily 4-5 nights a week) and focus on getting into a happy relationship.

I haven't had a sip of alcohol in years and I'm happily married. I think, in part, due to reading this book.

Highly recommended.

"Invert, always invert!"

–Charlie Munger