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JBSA News
NEWS | Nov. 23, 2015

Commitment to excellence: Pursuit of happiness

12th Flying Training Wing Executive Officer

The mission of the 435th Fighter Training Squadron is “to prepare the best young aviators in the world to succeed as fighter wingmen and weapons system officers.”

While accomplishing this mission, the unit deliberately invests in its human capital and takes action to create leaders for the Air Force. 

During the squadron’s professional development TDY to Missouri, 435th FTS instructor pilots and weapons system officers learned from Dr. Dan Haybron, professor of philosophy at the University of St. Louis. 

Haybron recently received a $5.1 million grant, the largest grant ever awarded to a researcher in the University of Saint Louis College of Arts and Sciences, to study happiness and well-being.

Through his research, Haybron is developing a happiness strategy that can help anyone achieve his or her personal happiness goals.

Haybron said to become a happier person, you must recognize and attend to the many internal and external forces that affect you. You must also foster positive relationships in your daily life.

He also said to improve your happiness, it is essential to focus on the happiness of others and think outside yourself. By applying these concepts to your life, you will improve your well-being, make the people around you happier, and in the process, become a happier and more effective leader.

Traditionally, philosophers categorize happiness strategies as either external or internal. External focuses on worldly things such as money, cars and travel.  Internal focuses on a person’s attributes such as willpower, positivity and character. 

Contrary to the traditional approach, Haybron adopts an interactionist perspective and believes that happiness arises from the complex interaction of one’s internal and external influence.

Therefore, the best happiness strategy must account for both sets of influences.

Since no two people are alike, there is no cookie-cutter recipe for happiness.  The good news is that one can build an individualized “toolkit” that will move a person towards a happier state. The toolkit must contain the internal and external resources required to meet personal goals.

For example, if a new car adds to your happiness, you must have the external financial resources to buy it.

Likewise, if you are happier with yourself when you eat well, you must have the internal willpower to avoid fatty foods and resist cravings.

Therefore, build positive habit patterns to expand your external and internal resources to achieve your personal happiness goals.

Social interactions are important to an individual’s happiness. Some of the strongest daily forces influencing happiness are interactions with family, friends and coworkers.

In philosophy, co-responsibility is the concept that your happiness is intricately intertwined with that of the people around you.

Positive interactions with a spouse or significant other improve your happiness levels more than negative interactions do.

Likewise, imbedding yourself with the right crowd and surrounding yourself with positive influences makes you happier.

One way to accomplish this is focusing on the happiness of those around you.  Co-responsibility stresses the importance of others and their influence on your happiness and well-being. Therefore, it makes sense that others’ attitudes affect your attitude. Happiness is contagious.  You can actually infect yourself with happiness by making others happy. By caring for others and helping make them happy, you create enjoyable experiences for yourself.

The positive feedback you receive from others directly affects you and improves your state of well-being. 

Since making yourself happier is the goal, it is important to develop a strategy you can customize to reach your own state of happiness. By recognizing and addressing the internal and external forces that influence you, you can develop a plan to acquire the resources necessary to achieve your happiness goals.

You can work towards happiness by improving your interpersonal relationships and creating positive social experiences.

In the process, you will become happier, and you will make those around you happier. The path to happiness is different for everyone, but by applying these concepts, you will improve your life and your organization.