What Your Baseline Joy Really Means
Six years ago, I bought a cupboard. Not just any cupboard, this was an antique Indian piece with intricate carved details and rich, weathered, white wood that told stories of another era. It was the most beautiful and expensive piece of furniture I had ever bought. I placed it in the entryway of my home, my pride and joy, the first thing visitors would see as they crossed the threshold. I imagined it transforming the space, making everything feel more curated, more intentional, more me.
For exactly three months, I loved that cupboard. I'd walk past and run my fingers along the carvings, admiring how the light caught the edges and the details were exotic. Then one morning, I noticed it was a little dusty. Soon after, it slowly became the natural drop-off point for miscellaneous keys, used candles, pocket trinkets, junk mail, and the occasional vase of dead flowers I meant to throw away but somehow never did.
My beautiful antique had become a glorified junk drawer. Over the following months, it faded into just another dust-collecting surface I walked past without seeing.
Welcome to the happiness treadmill, where even your most carefully curated treasures eventually become wallpaper you walk on by.
The Set Point Theory That Scared Everyone
In 1978, psychologists Philip Brickman and Donald Campbell published research that terrified the self-help industry. They studied lottery winners and accident victims who'd become paraplegic, and found something remarkable: within a year, both groups had returned to approximately their pre-event levels of happiness.
Win millions? You'll be ecstatic for a while, then drift back to your baseline. Lose the use of your legs? You'll be devastated, then gradually adapt back toward where you started.
They called it "hedonic adaptation," the psychological process by which we return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative life changes. Your happiness, they suggested, has a set point determined largely by genetics. You're basically stuck with the joy level you were born with, plus or minus a few points for circumstances.
It was a profoundly depressing idea wrapped in solid research. If we're all running on happiness treadmills, forever returning to our genetic baseline no matter what we achieve or acquire, what's the point of trying to improve our lives?
But here's what the original research missed, and what newer science is revealing: the treadmill has a speed setting. And whilst it's more complex than we initially thought, you have more control over it than the OG set point theory suggested.
The Pie Chart That Changed Everything (And Got Misunderstood)
In 2005, Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky and her colleagues proposed what became the most famous formula in happiness research:
50% genetics + 10% circumstances + 40% intentional activities
The pie chart was elegant, hopeful, and wildly influential. It suggested that whilst half your happiness capacity is genetic, you control a substantial 40% through what you choose to do. Circumstances (salary, possessions, where you live) matter surprisingly little, just 10%.
For fifteen years, this formula appeared in countless books, talks, and articles (including my own, and many wellness blogs that, admittedly, oversimplified it). It told us exactly what we wanted to hear: you're not stuck with your genetic lot, and that promotion or new house won't make you happy anyway, so focus on gratitude and kindness instead.
But the thing about neat formulas is that the real world and real life are a whole lot messier.
The Nuance We All Missed
In 2019, more than a decade after their original paper, Lyubomirsky and co-author Kennon Sheldon published an updated analysis, acknowledging what critics had been pointing out: the pie chart was "a gross oversimplification."
"Our aim more than 18 years ago was more to pose a question (is it possible for happiness to go up and to stay up?) than to provide an answer," Lyubomirsky explained. The numbers were meant as estimates in a thought experiment, not fixed laws of human nature.
Here's what we now understand more clearly:
The Percentages Aren't Fixed
These numbers don't tell you where your individual happiness comes from. They explain how much of the differences between people in general come from various sources. If your happiness is 8 out of 10, you can't say that 3.2 points come from your activities. You can only say that roughly 40% of the average gaps between people's happiness levels relate to what activities everyone is doing.
Put that way, it's less catchy. And our individual control seems less clear-cut.
The Factors Interact (They're Not Separate Slices)
As psychologist Todd Kashdan pointed out, your genes, circumstances, and activities don't operate independently. They influence each other constantly.
You might have a genetic disposition toward anxiety, but whether that gets activated depends on your circumstances (a stressful childhood, chronic financial insecurity). Your genes also influence your tendency to engage in happiness-boosting activities like exercise or acts of kindness. And your circumstances can enable or prevent those activities entirely (hard to maintain a gratitude practice when you're in survival mode).
The pie slices bleed into each other far more than the chart suggested.
Genetics Might Be Higher Than 50%
Recent research suggests heritability of happiness could be 70-80%, not 50%. But here's the crucial point: heritability doesn't mean unchangeable. It means genes influence your starting range, not your fixed destination. Your genetic "set point" has flexibility.
Circumstances Matter More Than 10% (Especially Extreme Ones)
The original 10% figure was based on studies measuring demographics like age, income, and education, mainly in Western countries among people with their basic needs met. It didn't capture the full range of human circumstances.
Chronic unemployment, poverty, living under oppression, caregiving burden, chronic pain - these aren't minor circumstances that you simply adapt away. Research shows adaptation to unemployment is partial at best, and adaptation to widowhood is slow and often incomplete.
If you're struggling with genuine hardship, circumstances account for far more than 10% of your wellbeing. The research doesn't diminish real suffering.
Intentional Activities Might Be Lower Than 40%
Lyubomirsky and Sheldon now acknowledge that activities may influence happiness less than they thought, contributing as little as 15% of the differences in some studies. On one hand, that's sobering. On the other, it just confirms what we probably already know: "Happiness can be successfully pursued, but it is not 'easy,'" they write. For many people, lasting wellbeing is simply hard-won. For others, it feels more natural.
So What Does Work?
Despite the pie chart's limitations, the last fifteen years of positive psychology research have revealed something crucial: the behaviours and habits we engage in do matter—from gratitude to kindness to mindfulness - and they can lead to an enduring happiness boost. There is plenty of research on practices that holds up, the key is understanding how to make those practices work for you.
Why Some Things Stick and Others Don't
Here's what we now know about adaptation-resistant activities versus adaptation-prone circumstances:
Adaptation-Prone (Things You Get Used To):
Material possessions: Research by psychologist Leaf Van Boven shows we adapt quickly to new purchases because they become part of our environment. They stop triggering novelty responses in our brain. That antique cupboard becomes just the place where you dump your keys.
Salary increases: Studies show people feel happier immediately after a raise, but typically return to baseline within three to six months. We adjust our spending, our comparison group shifts, and that higher salary feels normal.
Status achievements: The promotion, the award, the recognition. These create temporary happiness spikes, but we rapidly recalibrate our reference points. The new normal becomes just... normal.
Adaptation-Resistant (Things That Keep Giving):
Gratitude practices: Dr Robert Emmons's research shows that people who keep gratitude journals report sustained increases in wellbeing even years later. Why? Because gratitude requires active attention. You can't habituate to something you're deliberately noticing anew each time.
Acts of kindness: Lyubomirsky's studies show that performing regular, varied acts of kindness creates lasting happiness increases. Each kind act generates new social connections, positive feedback, and meaning.
Social connections: Unlike material goods, relationships offer infinite complexity and novelty. Research by Ed Diener and Martin Seligman found that the happiest 10% of people share one characteristic: strong social relationships.
Purpose and meaning: Dr Victor Strecher's research shows purpose predicts sustained wellbeing across decades. Purpose doesn't adapt away because it's process-oriented, not outcome-oriented. You don't "achieve" purpose and then adapt to it. You live it continuously.
Physical exercise: Regular movement creates sustained mood improvements through neurochemical changes, improved sleep, and increased energy. Effects last as long as the practice continues.
The Practices That Actually Work, According to Science
Research reveals specific strategies that increase our chances of success:
1. Choose Activities That Fit You
Activities work better when they feel natural, enjoyable, and aligned with your values, rather than driven by guilt or other people's expectations. If journaling feels like homework, try voice memos. If meditation feels torturous, try walking in nature. The "right" practice is the one you'll actually do!
2. Pursue Meaning, Not Just Pleasure
Hedonism won't necessarily make you happy, even if you feel good in the moment. We need to pursue purpose and practice forgiveness, gratitude, and generosity - those give us a sense of competence, autonomy, and connection, which are core human needs.
In practice: Instead of asking "What will make me feel good right now?" ask "What will make this day meaningful?" The answers are often quite different.
3. Add Variety to Prevent Adaptation
Doing an exercise like writing gratitude letters the same way over and over can mean we become accustomed to it and don't reap as many benefits. You have to keep your brain alive to possibilities.
In practice: If you keep a gratitude journal, vary what you're grateful for. Instead of generic blessings, force yourself to find specific, concrete moments. "I'm grateful for the way my daughter laughed when we made pancakes this morning, and how she insisted on doing the flipping herself even though half of them ended up on the floor."
4. Commit Effort (But ALSO Accept It's Hard!)
People who invest more effort into their new habits see greater improvements in their well-being. But that doesn't mean it will be easy or quick. Lasting happiness is hard-won for most of us, so go easy on yourself and simply try do your best.
5. Savour to Prevent Adaptation
Dr Fred Bryant's research on savouring shows it directly counteracts hedonic adaptation. Deliberately attending to positive experiences amplifies and prolongs enjoyment.
In practice: Instead of scrolling through your morning coffee, put the phone away and actually taste it. Notice the warmth, the aroma, the first sip. You're training your brain to extract more wellbeing from ordinary moments by preventing adaptation through active attention.
What About When Life Genuinely Changes?
Here's a crucial nuance about hedonic adaptation: it's not always the enemy. It's actually a remarkable feature of human resilience.
When my friend's business folded after five years, she was devastated. After giving it her absolute all, she was lost, anxious and couldn’t see a way forward. It was painful for her to let it go. Two years later, she’s not just okay. She's genuinely content in ways she wasn't even during her "highs" of doing the hustle in her own business. She went on to take classes and courses, got a coach, went on a journey of discovery and forged an entirely new path forward over time. Adaptation allowed her to recalibrate, to find a new baseline and to find meaning and success in whole new ways.
The same mechanism that makes us take our antique Indian cupboard for granted also allows us to survive tremendous loss and find our way back to wellbeing. Research shows we adapt to many difficult circumstances, though not completely or universally. Adaptation to unemployment is partial. Adaptation to widowhood is slow. But adaptation does help us survive without permanent devastation.
The key is understanding which direction adaptation is pulling you:
For positive changes: Fight adaptation through active engagement. Don't let the good stuff become wallpaper. Savour it, vary it, share it, use it for purpose.
For negative changes: Allow adaptation to do its work. Let time and your brain's natural adjustment process soften the edges. Trust that you will recalibrate in due course.
The Realistic Hope
So where does this leave us? The original pie chart oversimplified. The percentages aren't fixed. The factors interact. Your individual mileage on the happiness treadmill will absolutely vary.
But here's what hasn't changed: "People can create for themselves a steady inflow of engaging, satisfying, connecting, and uplifting positive experiences, thereby increasing the likelihood that they remain in the upper range of their happiness potentials," Sheldon and Lyubomirsky write.
That’s to say - you're not powerless. But you're also not in complete control. It's both/and, not either/or.
If your circumstances genuinely need changing (leaving a toxic job, addressing a health issue, seeking financial stability), that matters. A lot. More than 10%. Don't let anyone tell you circumstances don't affect wellbeing. And if your circumstances are "good enough" (basic needs met, safety, some degree of autonomy), then yes, how you engage with your life matters enormously. The practices make a real difference.
The research is clear: sustainable wellbeing comes from investing in adaptation-resistant activities rather than adaptation-prone circumstances. But it also comes from acknowledging when circumstances truly need to shift. It’s your call.
tIME FOR The Honest Audit
This week, try this reality check:
Assess your circumstances honestly:
Are your basic needs met (safety, shelter, health, financial security)?
If not, what circumstances genuinely need changing before you can focus on practices?
If yes, what are you waiting for that you think will finally make you happy?
Evaluate your current practices:
What regular activities consistently lift your mood?
Which of these offer ongoing novelty, engagement, or meaning?
Which have you been doing the same way for so long they've lost their power?
Run the adaptation test:
For each thing you're striving for or purchasing, ask: "Will I adapt to this within six months?"
For each practice, ask: "Does this fit my personality? Does it align with my values? Am I doing it out of genuine interest or guilt?"
Make one shift:
If circumstances need changing, identify one concrete step
If circumstances are good enough, strengthen one adaptation-resistant practice
Add variety to something that's gone stale
The happiness treadmill is real. Hedonic adaptation is real. But you're not completely powerless on it. You just need to understand that "happiness can be successfully pursued, but it is not 'easy.'"
Admittedly, it's less catchy than a pie chart. But it's more honest. And ultimately, more hopeful too.
At the end of the day, it's impossible to predict how much happiness you'll get from any specific change. We're all individuals, and no formula can tell us that. What the research can tell us, though, is this: the practices that create lasting wellbeing aren't about chasing feeling good - they're about building a life that feels meaningful. And I believe that's always worth pursuing.
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