How to Be Happier: 5 Tips for Dual-Career Couples
What makes us happy that we can control? I set out to understand and share with you what we can learn from the 2026 World Happiness Report. The report is published by the University of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre in partnership with Gallup and other organizations. The report identifies major factors that explain more than 75% of what contributes to our happiness.
I’ll wrap up this post with the lessons I learned from the report that we can use in our lives to be happier.
What Erodes Happiness
Not everything is within our control unless citizens work together. For example, consider trust in our institutions. When people perceive that the institutions we rely on, such as government, are corrupt, we are less happy.
According to reporting following the 2026 U.S. midterms, the “blue tsunami” was fueled in part by folks who see the current presidential administration as being corrupt. Of course, unaffordability was the most pressing issue, with the recognition that much of it stems from unnecessary tariffs and the war.
Close relationships and belonging matter enormously. When we don’t have close friends or a community to engage with, we become less happy.
Unsurprisingly, the report found that social media is particularly toxic when it’s used excessively and passively. When people use social media for social comparison, they become less happy. Compulsive online behavior and feeling trapped by technology were also big drivers of unhappiness.
5 Happiness Tips for Dual-Career Couples
I read the 2026 World Happiness Report to learn how we can live happier, fuller lives. I concluded that the report offers five lessons we can apply to our lives.
I believe the most important takeaway is to create boundaries with technology. My phone and social media drain my happiness, so I chose to do something about it. I shared the strategies I found most effective in my past post, Your Phone Is Stealing Your Life. Here's How to Take It Back.
Please share this post with your friends and family if you found it useful.
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Original Post: 8/7/25
Updated Post: 11/4/26
