127: How to Be an Optimal Human

“The happiest person is the person doing good stuff for good reasons.” 

— Kennon Sheldon

Dr. Kennon Sheldon is a psychologist at the University of Missouri who studies motivation, goals, and well-being, from both a self-determination theory and a positive psychology perspective. He has authored or co-authored multiple books, including “Optimal human being: An integrated multi-level perspective”. Dr. Sheldon has been cited more than 30,000 times, and in 2010, he was named one of the 20 most cited social psychologists.

In this wide-ranging episode we discuss:

• How Ken went from aspiring musician to leading research on goals
• Whether the pursuit of happiness is worth it
• Is happiness in your genes?
• The link between goals and happiness
• The what and why of motivated goal pursuit
• The basic needs of self-determination theory
• Deprivation vs. growth needs
• Self-concordance theory
• The link between values and happiness
• How much can we use science as a guide to values?
• Are there some ways of being more conducive to happiness than others?
• How to get in touch with your OVP (organismic valuing process)
• Marrying positive psychology and humanistic psychology
• The relationship between personal goals and personal projects
• How to know when to change your goals
• The good life: well-being or well-doing?