What is the secret to happiness?

It’s not an easy question to answer. And it might seem like the Stoics wouldn’t have a good answer either. Because it might seem like they didn’t have much fun, or experience much happiness. After all, they wrote repeatedly about the emptiness of chasing money or celebrity. They reminded themselves that fine wine is just rotten old grapes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean their lives were empty and joyless. By one definition of happiness, in fact, the Stoics were some of the happiest people to ever live.

On a recent episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, we  interviewed Gretchen Rubin, one of the most thought-provoking and influential experts on happiness. They talked about one of the things she learned from her former boss, the Supreme Court’s first female justice, Sandra Day O’Connor. Shortly after Gretchen published The Happiness Project, she asked O’Connor who she had clerked for, what is the secret to happiness? O’Connor replied,

“The secret to happiness is work worth doing.”

Perfect.

The Stoics didn’t seek happiness. They sought purpose. They were of service to others. They worked on art and made scientific breakthroughs and changed people’s lives. They fought for causes. They held public office. They represented clients in court. They dedicated themselves to their children. They did their duty. They did work worth doing. The byproduct of which was happiness, joy, contentment, pride, satisfaction, all of those things.

As we talked about, the best things in life are an accidental byproduct. So it goes for happiness. It is not pursued. It ensues. From doing work worth doing.