What is the Hedonic Treadmill, and how does it undermine our ability to sustain a lasting sense of happiness?
In this episode Kate overviews her take on the Hedonic Treadmill. She discusses the Hamster Wheel that helps her make sense of the concept. She also discusses the pursuit of external sources of happiness and pleasure and how it often foils us in our attempt to find greater life satisfaction.
Finally, she highlights actions you can take to get off the treadmill, including:
- Deepening your awareness
- Creating variation in your life
- Putting the conscious effort in to savor simple pleasures
- and Creating a Values-Based Life.
Transcript: #140: Sustaining Happiness: Getting off the Hedonic Treadmill
Welcome!It is Episode 140 of Here To Thrive. Talking about how to get off the hedonic treadmill.
The hedonic treadmill or hedonic adaptation is the term that you might have heard thrown around in
Psychology or self-help or personal development circles from time to time.
This podcast is a quick overview of the concept of the hedonic treadmill as it pertains to our overall sense of
well being and happiness. So, I’m going to define it as well as talk about how you can avoid getting stuck in
the trap of always seeking and yet never truly arriving at a sense of happiness.
Stay tuned.
[Intro]
Welcome to Here To Thrive. I’m your host, Kate Snowise. This is a podcast for people who are ready to step
up and live a happier life. It’s for those of us who are dedicated to understanding ourselves and getting the
best that we can out of this thing called life. It’s a mix of psychology and modern spiritual thought always
with a focus on practical advice so that you can take it back and apply it to your own life. I don’t believe
we’re here to merely survive. I truly believe we’re here to thrive. So, let’s get going.
Quick introduction if you are new to the podcast and don’t know me. I’m the host Kate Snowise. I’m an
executive coach and also run corporate workshops around stress resilience well-being. So, if you’d like to
learn more about me, you can head to https://thrive.how. I also want to know how much your reviews mean
to me for the podcast. If Here to Thrive has helped you in some way, it would mean so very much to me if
you could take a quick moment now to go and write a review and click that writing button. It really helps
other potential listeners find the podcast and well, you know, we could all do with a little bit more thriving if
you ask me. But without further ado, let’s start talking the hedonic treadmill.
Like what is it?
Going back to the words from Seneca in an essay to his brother, I think he puts this concept pretty well when
he says “All men, brother Gallio, wish to live happily but a dull at perceiving exactly what it is that makes
life happy. Instincts often set us a little bit astray when it comes to happiness. I see the hedonic treadmill as a
mechanism that keeps us stuck in that sense of not enoughness . It’s the idea of “I’m not there yet” or “I still
need something else” or “I’m still craving more”. It’s a drive that traps us ultimately in a sense of lack with
the odd fleeting head of satisfaction and happiness just enough to keep us motivated to pursue more.
Hedonic comes from the word hedonism. If you Google search, it will simply tell you that hedonism is the
pursuit of pleasure and that’s what we’re talking about here. The hedonic treadmill is when you get stuck in
an ever increasing round about race to try and feel that sense of pleasure. I personally like to think of it as
human on a hamster wheel just going round and round in circles.
Sonja Lyubomirsky is a positive psychologist and researcher and she found that we have a happiness set
point and if we are unaware we will typically return to that baseline sense of happiness regardless of our
circumstances. The treadmill analogy works because it highlights that you may be running but you’re
ultimately not going anywhere when it comes to your sense of happiness. It is that cliché of believing that
you’ll be happy when the idea that the grass is greener over there, but then you get there and find that that sense of joy and satisfaction was completely fleeting. You basically just done another circle on the treadmill
in pursuit of pleasure.
Coming back to my hamster wheel idea, the problem is that the more momentum you get, the fast you have
on run to keep up, right? Have you ever been on one of those things? They have one in the playground in
New Zealand when I go and visit my mom and the more momentum you get, the faster you have to run just
to stay upright. This is the crux of the issue when it comes to hedonic adaption – which is another term for
the hedonic treadmill theory – the more you get, the more you need to keep feeling that sense of pleasure.
Now, I’m sure you can see how this would start to apply to life. It’s ultimately about the pursuit of external
pleasure. We start out, for example, in a cute little flat with our roommates and not too much and we’re
totally happy there. And then we go and get a nice house and we don’t believe we could possibly go back to
that simple life that we had that would be far too uncomfortable. That’s an example of hedonic adaption. Or
we focus on the goal of getting that promotion and all that comes with it— thank you, bigger paycheck. But
when we arrive, we find that we’re not anywhere near as happy as we imagined we would be. And so
ultimately, we feel pulled to just sit in another goal and keep climbing, keep running, keep pursuing. It’s that
never ending rat race of the more you get, the more you want and the faster and harder you have to run to get
it. Like when you think about it, there is no wonder that so many of us are burned out and exhausted, right?
Running faster and faster for the same hit of happiness. It’s tiring.
Ultimately, I see the hedonic treadmill as a case of focusing on external things and the hope that that will
sustain our happiness which is a human instinct. We built to seek pleasure where we can. So, I just wanna
highlight how normal this is. It is our default programming and there is nothing wrong with you. The only
thing worth noting is that ultimately, if we subscribe and roll through our life this way completely
unconsciously, the issue is that it’s only going to lead to these fleeting moments of satisfaction, not that real
and lasting fulfillments that we ultimately crave.
So, why is this even useful to know?
Why is it useful to contemplate this whole theory of the hedonic treadmill? Because ultimately if we know
this is our natural tendency but it may not be for our highest good. That’s when we have the power to make
choices to help balance the adaption process out. It’s kind of like being in on the game and realizing that you
can still play but you don’t have to get so hung up on the outcomes, so hung up on what running on this
treadmill is going to give you. It gets a little more fun.
So, knowing about this process can help you bring your expectations into line and also make sure that you
prioritize what really matters to you. Going back to Sonja Lyubomirsky she found that 50% about
happiness was likely explained by that happiness set point. Kind of like a default. Then additional 10% is
impacted by out external circumstances. But people, only ten percent and that leaves a whopping 40% that
we can impact by choosing behaviors that align with longer, lasting forms of happiness and internal
fulfillment. So, if the driving force behind the hedonic treadmill is pleasure, we need to recognize that
ultimately what we’ve really want is to feel happy and fulfilled, rather than just that pleasurable sense of
happiness. Which leads us to the practicalities: How do we get off the hedonic treadmill? What can we do
differently to avoid just being in this endless pursuit of pleasure that ultimately just has us running harder
and harder and faster and faster just to get to another little hit?
Here are some ideas.
First, I should note self awareness I truly believe is key here. You cannot make conscious choices about your
life without being able to observe yourself and recognize when you might be falling prey to the endless
pursuit of external hits of happiness. This is a recurring theme of mine. I go on and on about self awareness
but I strongly believe in building this into your life, that we all need a space for self reflection if we’re going
to live the most fulfilling version of our lives. Now, whether that is journaling, therapy, coaching or other
forms of personal development, they all help. You simply need to have the space and ability to step back and
reflect on where you are, the actions that you’re taking, and what you really want in life. Do they marry up?
So, self awareness: You have to be able to step back and view your life from that higher perspective.
The second thing: Variety. Don’t just stick to the same level of lifestyle or the same routines all the time.
You are going to adapt to them. You numb out and you will become immune to the joy that could be
bringing you. Now, this could be as simple as going camping for a week and sleeping on the hard ground. I
don’t doubt that you’ll come home and appreciate yourself carpet and mattress more. In saying that, the
variety and the ability to be out in nature will likely highlight to you how much beauty there is in the world
as well. So there are different things to appreciate in each circumstance. But the variety will help you avoid
falling into that unconscious trap of adaptation or taking things for granted. Totally speaking from personal
experience here. My husband I were lucky enough to get a very simple, little one-room shack on a lake this
year. And every time I go there, I am delighted and appreciative of the water and nature and the simple life.
And yet, every time I come home, I’m so grateful for my hot, wonderful shower and the soft carpet under
my feet, the snuggliness of our couches in our home.
Perspective, people.
Perspective is key.
And variety can help break us out of that numbing that that can come from adaptation.
Savoring is another idea from positive psychology. This one again requires awareness. If for example you
buy yourself a nice, fancy coffee every day, this likely started out as something that you really savored it and
enjoyed. Something that bought you that sense of happiness. But then, you quickly adapt and it becomes just
an unconscious and under appreciated part of your daily routine. By bringing a level of awareness to that
daily coffee, you can suck more joy out of it. This is savoring those moments. Seriously, why not say
“Thank you, coffee” when you take that first sip and just take a little moment to marinate in the joy of that
tiny sip of coffee and enjoy it. I swear it will taste better. I bet you, it will. So savoring, having enough
awareness to not run through your days unconsciously but being more mindful to appreciate those small
simple pleasures.
Finally, another way that you can aid yourself in getting off the hedonic treadmill is to create a values-based
life. I believe wholeheartedly in the power of creating our lives from the foundation of our personal values.
This allows us to live more authentic, personally grounded and fulfilling lives that are least likely to be
impacted on by the expectations of other people and that external pursuit of happiness. This is the pursuit of
the meaningful, rather than the pleasurable. If you are particularly interested in this, I do have a values guide
that you can purchase on my website. It’s https://thrive.how. Should still be down the bottom of the main
page to help you get started with this. And I spend time on this with almost all of my coaching clients
because it is that foundational. Of course I believe in my work, but you can’t start living a values-based life
without me holding your hand or anyone else for that matter. Knowing your personal values allows you to use them to make guided and sound decisions that align with what you really need to feel fulfilled in life. I say that they can act as scaffolding to keep us centered in life and tap into the more gratifying forms of fulfillment.
So wrapping up, the hedonic treadmill is the idea that if we are leave to our unconscious devices, we will
tend towards seeking pleasure externally or looking for the world out there to make us happy. That’s natural.
The problem being that the more we get, the more we need. And the treadmill just keeps getting faster as we
run around trying to get another hit of happiness.
We can approach life differently though and tend towards behaviors, habits, and actions that will build in a
deeper sense of happiness into our days so that we can avoid being in that endless pursuit of happiness and
rather feel more happiness and fulfillment in our days, weeks, and years.
I talked about developing our sense of self awareness. Ensuring we have variety in our lives and in our
routines. Being conscious of savoring those small little moments of joy and building our lives around what
matters most to us or our personal values. These are all tactics that can help us get off the hedonic treadmill
and stop running after happiness but rather really enjoy our lives. And by, gosh, no means is that an
exhaustive list but I hope it gives you a little food for thought today.
We live in a very goal-based society which is often obsessed with the outcome, but we can’t overlook
the journey. So just remember, our lives are happening now and if we consistently just running, searching for
that fleeting hit of happiness, that’s ultimately not going to give us a deep down and sense of fulfillment.
Something to consider as you move through your days and your weeks. Bring that joy into your days. It’s so
worth it.
[Music]
My next guest interview is with Tricia Barker, and she had a near death experience when she was in her
early twenties. She’s written a book called Angels in the OR and talks about her experience of being in that
gap between worlds, what she saw, and how she felt supported by the angels after that experience.
Super interesting conversation and incredibly inspiring. Just what the world needs right now.
So, come back! Subscribe if you haven’t already, tell your friends about Here to Thrive if you enjoy the
podcast. And as I mentioned earlier, your ratings and reviews really do help the show out.
Until next time beautiful people! Keep turning towards the things that bring you that deeper sense of
fulfillment and keep thriving. Keep thriving beautiful people.