A Simple Model for Happiness
Combining decades of happiness research, the BAMBA Model of Happiness simplifies the abstract concept of happiness by shedding light on the determinants of a happy and fulfilling life.
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A Simple Model for Happiness
Combining decades of happiness research, the BAMBA Model of Happiness simplifies the abstract concept of happiness by shedding light on the determinants of a happy and fulfilling life.
Learn MoreView Site
What Makes You Happy?
Most people struggle to accurately identify what truly makes them happy because happiness used to be an extremely abstract concept that would take you your entire life to understand. After lifetimes of enquiry by multiple researchers trying to “gain a better understanding of what makes people happy,” we finally have this understanding. We have compiled these teachings into the BAMBA Model of Happiness, which sheds light on the determinants of a happy and fulfilling life giving you a better understanding on how to approach happiness.
To help you work through the BAMBA Model and guide you on your happiness journey we have created:
- A beautiful website guiding you through your happiness journey
- Happiness Activities to practice the BAMBA Model
- Happiness Scales to measure the determinants of happiness
Happiness Activities
Happiness Practice
You can find a lot of content online about happiness that most people consume, think about for a while and soon forget. On the website, you can practice the lessons about happiness by doing the various happiness activities. Each happiness activity helps you set up a system to practice one or multiple determinants from the BAMBA Model of Happiness. The website makes doing each activity simple with a beautiful interface, guidance through each activity and storing your responses.
Happiness Habit
Each happiness activity also has a daily entry component because you want to make happiness a habit. Each daily entry is setup based on your responses for the activity. Consistently doing the daily entries allows you to indicate how well you applied your systems for greater happiness in your life. The website has setup each daily entry to be simple and only take 5 minutes of your time. As you make each daily entry, you will start to notice your progress in becoming happier
Happiness Feedback/Progress
The final component of each happiness activity is giving you feedback and showing your progress. The website will combine your entry responses and show them to you in the form of beautifully designed and simple to understand charts and tables. Viewing your progress is a proven way to increase motivation because you have concrete proof your systems are making you happier. Receiving feedback also shows you where you want to make adjustments in your happiness practice. Think of the Happiness feedback/progress component as your personal happiness dashboard.
Happiness Scales
Measure Happiness
Understanding your happiness levels is extremely difficult. Which is why on the website you can take scales (surveys) to help quantify your general happiness levels and also quantify your levels for each of the 5 BAMBA Determinants of Happiness. Each scale was created by compiling the studies of various happiness researchers and tested by science. Instead of the usual abstract definition of happiness, taking the scales gives you a more tangible measurement of your happiness levels.
Receive Happiness Profile
After taking the scales, the website will gather your results and organize them for you into your unique happiness profile. Most people have a poor understanding of their happiness and themselves. With your happiness profile, you will gain a better understanding and awareness about yourself. You may be surprised to see you are actually quite happy in a determinant you thought was lacking and need improvement in a determinant you believed you were happy in. Having this tangible happiness profile shows you your happiness strengths along with opportunities for growth.
Find What Makes You Happy
The website also offers a chart system, which helps you observe how your Happiness levels are correlated with the BAMBA Determinants of Happiness. The chart system displays your scores over time from each scale in a simple line chart. You can then overlay scores from any combination of the scales to see how your general happiness levels are related to each of the BAMBA Determinants of Happiness. With these insights you can focus more on the BAMBA determinants giving you the highest levels of happiness.
Happier Employees and Return On Investment Course (HEROIC)
The happiness website originated as a companion for the Happier Employees and Return on Investment Course (HEROIC). The course introduces the BAMBA Model of Happiness, a deeper explanation into each of the 5 determinants of happiness and how you and your organization can apply the BAMBA Model of Happiness for greater happiness at work.
According to Freud, the two most important aspects of life are “work” and “love.” If the goal of your life is to be happy, work is such an important aspect of your life so much so that you spent a large part of your waking hours at work then you might as well strive for happiness at work. You might be wondering, “How can I possibly be happy at work?” This is exactly why Dr. Raj Raghunathan created the course.
Happiness at Work is the Greatest Return on Investment
HEROIC learners progress responses to the scales for Happiness at Work (HAP), Satisfaction, Engagement, and Morale (SEM), and Productivity (PRO). measured at 3 different points throughout the course.
You can see on the chart that Happiness at Work (HAP) leads to higher levels of Satisfaction, Engagement, and Morale (SEM), which then lead to greater levels of Productivity (PRO).
Learners completing the course showed an average increase of 17.2% for Happiness at Work, 13.8% for Satisfaction, Engagement and Morale, and 10.5% for Productivity, Since SEM and Productivity are lagging measures of Happiness at Work you can assume learners SEM and Productivity levels continued to increase even after they finished the course.
Happiness Leads to Productivity
“I would be happy, you say to yourself, “If I could be better, more successful and more productive.” That is the opposite of the actual approach. it’s actually, “Be happy—and you will be better, more successful, more productive.”
You can see there is a 73% correlation between Happiness at Work and Productivity for the course learners.
It seems that in our popular thinking about happiness we have managed to put the cart before the horse. The Happier Employees and Return on Investment Course shows that Happiness at Work (the horse) drives Productivity (the cart). Happiness at Work is the greatest return on investment for any organization.
Course Creators
Dr. Raj Raghunathan
Dr. Raj Raghunathan is someone who is always thinking about the bigger questions about life, which led his desire to “gain a better understanding of what makes people happy.” He would then dedicate his PhD and his time as a professor researching and analyzing content from multiple decades worth of research on psychology, neuroscience and behavioral decision theory to better understand the determinants of happiness.
He now finds his purpose is to serve as a conduit between the scientific community and the masses in addressing the biggest question of life: “what are the factors that determine life-satisfaction and happiness?” This combination of academia and happiness is why Raj is affectionately called, “Dr. Happy Smarts.”
Ahsan Vency
Ahsan has always wondered "what is the essence of a great life?". In his search for these answers he has gone on a grand spiritual journey over 3.5 years, obtained a degree in neuroscience, read over 100+ self-improvement/psychology books, and engaged with plant medicine. Through his journey and experiences he discovered his main passions are happiness and personal growth.
He now wants to share the lessons he has learned by developing the course website. He has programmed the website in a way for people to practice different ways of being happy and unique methods to discover what makes you happy.
He now wants to share the lessons he has learned by developing the course website. He has programmed the website in a way for people to practice different ways of being happy and unique methods to discover what makes you happy.
Marshall Goldsmith
Marshall has won the Award for #1 Leadership Thinker in the World twice and has been ranked as a Top Ten Business Thinker for the past eight years. His experiences and teachings are included in the leadership philosophies outlined in the course.
Marshall’s mission is simple. He wants to help people achieve positive, lasting change in behavior; for themselves, their people, and their teams. He doesnt do this for fame and accolades. He does this becasue he loves helping people. as an executive educators and coach, he helps people understand how their beliefs and environments they operate in can trigger certain behaviors. He shares his simple and practical advice in HEROIC to help you achieve and sustain positive behavioral change at work.
Sandrine Muller
Sandrine is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. She studies how personality and mental health inform our understanding of people’s behavior. She also has brought her great personality to the course.