Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple formula to have a good day? New research reveals the building blocks to make any day a good day

We all have bad days; it’s just a fact. But what if we knew the secret behind how to have a good day? What if we could identify the elements needed to help us figure out what makes an OK day, and what makes a good one? New research into what makes a good day from Dunigan Folk, Mirka Henninger and Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia in Canada does just that.

The science behind having a good day

To help identify the building blocks of what helps create a happy life, researchers used machine learning to analyse data from the 2013 and 2021 American Time Use Survey, a survey used to mature the time thousands of people spent doing more than 100 activities. These activity times were then compared with participants reporting whether their day was better than typical.

Data suggested that socialising for more than 30 minutes was one of the most important activities to have a good day, but any general socialising beyond two hours had little additional benefit. However, researchers found that spending time with friends has an “almost boundlessly positive effect”. 

Other areas found to produce more good days than typical included spending time with your children, and time spent with your spouse with or without other people.

Interestingly, it was found that your day doesn’t have to be work-free to be good – but how long you work for can have a significant impact. While past research showed people tend to experience low levels of happiness while working, this research found that working up to six hours has no impact on whether their day was better than usual. While working up to six hours had no effect on having a good or average day, any longer and your likelihood of having a bad day increases. 

Commutes to work of 15 minutes or less were found to result in a good day in 2021, but not in 2013 – something that researchers suggest may be due to the emotional benefits of getting out of the house during the Covid-19 pandemic. Housework and work-related travel were among the activities more likely to result in an average, rather than a good day.

Surprisingly, researchers found that time spent relaxing was almost always negatively associated with having a good day, “presumably because most of this time was devoted to watching television,” they explain. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how much time we have, it’s how we use it that really matters

Researchers hope that results will help us learn how to get the most out of our time, and start to optimise our daily activities, helping us have more good days than bad. 

How to have a good day

Having a good day can have a significant impact on us mentally and physically. A good day can help us to be more productive, maintain and improve our relationships, and create a greater overall sense of wellbeing, all while helping us to feel more positive, happy, and less stressed. It’s a win all around! 

While there may be key building blocks to keep in mind to help us build a better day, it’s important to remember that good days – and our overall feelings of happiness – are things that we can actively work towards. Although they can just happen to us, we can have a significant impact on them, too. Psychologist and Therapist Nicoleta Porojanu, MSc, BSc Hons, GradDip Psy, PgDip ClinHyp explains more about the mindful steps towards happiness. 

“There are infinite sources of happiness available in the universe. And there are also as many reasons to be unhappy. It is ultimately your choice which way you turn your attention in life. Seek happiness beyond pleasure, distractions and intensity. Satisfying your needs is great but, if you expect immediate gratification all the time, this can have a negative impact on your happiness because you will feel unhappy when you can’t have those needs met. In reality, you can learn to experience happiness outside of your pleasures too.

“When you mistake distraction and intensity with happiness, you find it unpleasant when life moves at a slow pace. It is very helpful to learn to connect with the aliveness inside of you and not to depend on outer circumstances to uplift your inner state. Whether you have distractions or intensity in your life or not, you can still be happy inside.”

So, how can we create a more lasting sense of happiness, and start to have more good days? 

Key elements to have a good day

  1. Socialise for 30 minutes to two hours (or more, if with friends).
  2. Work for up to six hours (but no more).
  3. Have a short commute of up to 15 minutes (but avoid work travel).
  4. Spend time with family, friends, and loved ones.
  5. Make the most of the time that you have.

Knowing these key elements and keeping them in mind can help us start crafting more good days than bad, no matter how tight on time we might be. While we can’t always change some of the building blocks of our days (we can’t exactly make our commute magically shorter, and not many bosses would be happy with us packing up after six hours) we can start making small changes with the time that we have to make it actively better for us. 

While doom scrolling in front of the telly can feel like an escape in the moment, knowing that switching off and spending time chatting with friends and family will help us to feel better overall can, hopefully, help us start to make better decisions and start putting our longer-term sense of happiness first.