Why Smart People Fail to Be Happy
A list of the 5 most common themes for self-analysis and growth
“If you’re so smart, how come you aren’t happy?”
That’s Naval Ravikant’s challenge¹ to everyone bathing in the misery of their own intelligence. “Happiness is a choice,” he says; something you can work on, like your fitness, nutrition, or career.
Naval knows it’s a choice because he too had to make it for himself: “I was born poor and miserable, and I’m now pretty well off and very happy — and I worked at those.”
Naval also knows that’s an unpopular statement to make for two reasons:
- Some people are depressed at a molecular level and thus have a real, biological disadvantage.
- Some people don’t believe it’s possible to learn to be happy, and they don’t like being made responsible for it.
About 10% of the world’s population suffer from a mental health disorder of any kind.² That means for every one unhappy person with a chemical imbalance, there are nine who refuse to accept what science has proven countless times:³ You can learn to be happy — especially if you’re smart.
Thankfully, many of those smart and happy people have researched and compiled the most common obstacles to our fulfillment over the years…
