Arthur Brooks led the American Enterprise Institute for more than a decade. Now he's a full-time happiness scientist. Here's his guide to making it in Washington without sacrificing your humanity.
Most people come to Washington in search of power.
Power to change policy; authority to elect new leaders; authority to influence the most influential judges; The ability to tell stories that shape people's minds.
But the oldest story in Washington is that the pursuit of power almost always comes at the expense of what everyone says they really want: happiness.
Of course, this is not just a Washington story. It's part of a much bigger story that plagues the country.
Life expectancy in America has fallen from pre-pandemic levels, driven by so-called deaths of despair: fatal drug overdoses, alcohol-related illnesses and suicides.
Depression, anxiety and chronic diseases are on the rise.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has described a national "epidemic of loneliness" that has the same effect on the human body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
If there is an upside to these grim trends, it's that perhaps more people are trying to figure out what really makes us happy.
A few years ago, Arthur Brooks traded his job at one of the leading think tanks in Washington for a career as a happiness scientist. He is also a best-selling author on the subject and recently published a book with Oprah Winfrey called Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Becoming Happier.
On today's show, he'll share the secret behind his research, and we hope you'll find some food for thought over the holidays.
In a city of strivers, workaholics, and perfectionists, many people—maybe even you—come to Washington believing that success will lead to happiness, only to be confused and even crushed when they achieve the former and don't follow through on the latter.
Brooks' long-term research shows that we have done the opposite: in fact, happiness leads to success, not the other way around.
The question, of course, is how do we get happiness?
