Many people associate money with happiness. However, thinking about money frequently is likely to make us less happy. With money always on our minds, we work more and spend less time with loved ones. To increase the richness of our life experience, time, not money, should be our focus.
A series of surveys and experiments examining the effect of focusing attention on money or time found that people who focused on money, no matter how much they had, were more likely to work more and socialize less.
This work was conducted by Professor Cassie Mogilner at University of Pennsylvania. She commented “passing the hours working (although productive) does not translate into greater happiness.”
On the other hand, focusing on time motivated people “to spend more time with friends and family and less time working; behaviors that are associated with greater happiness.”
Long work hours decrease happiness by cutting into time that could be spent with partners, friends, and family. “Simply increasing the relative salience of time (vs. money) can nudge someone to spend that extra hour at home rather than at the office, there finding greater happiness” says Cassie.
The Pursuit of Happiness: Time, Money, and Social Connection Psychological Science 21(9) 1348–1354, Mogilner, Cassie
