Dr. Laurie Santos

You putting the time in and maybe not even getting rewarded for it is one of the things that can build up some of the most intrinsic reward.

You know, we think of gratitude as, oh, I'm so grateful for my morning cup of coffee or something like that, but What the research shows is that gratitude is more of a pro-social emotion. This is work by Dave Desteno and others, where what gratitude really makes you feel like is like, wow, I have a lot and I should probably give some back to other people.

You know, we think of gratitude as, oh, I'm so grateful for my morning cup of coffee or something like that, but What the research shows is that gratitude is more of a pro-social emotion. This is work by Dave Desteno and others, where what gratitude really makes you feel like is like, wow, I have a lot and I should probably give some back to other people.

You know, we think of gratitude as, oh, I'm so grateful for my morning cup of coffee or something like that, but What the research shows is that gratitude is more of a pro-social emotion. This is work by Dave Desteno and others, where what gratitude really makes you feel like is like, wow, I have a lot and I should probably give some back to other people.

This is the kind of sense that gratitude gives us. So Dave finds that people who experience more gratitude want to volunteer more, right? They want to be nice to their future self, right? They want to save more for retirement and eat healthier because it's, I can give back to like my future self who's like another person, right? Yeah.

This is the kind of sense that gratitude gives us. So Dave finds that people who experience more gratitude want to volunteer more, right? They want to be nice to their future self, right? They want to save more for retirement and eat healthier because it's, I can give back to like my future self who's like another person, right? Yeah.

This is the kind of sense that gratitude gives us. So Dave finds that people who experience more gratitude want to volunteer more, right? They want to be nice to their future self, right? They want to save more for retirement and eat healthier because it's, I can give back to like my future self who's like another person, right? Yeah.

And so gratitude is an emotion that facilitates that kind of self-sacrifice, the kinds of hard work that leads to really positive social connection, leads to helping, and I think leads to doing things that really matter. So it's an emotion that gives you a sort of motivational bandwidth to do the stuff that I think increases mattering.

And so gratitude is an emotion that facilitates that kind of self-sacrifice, the kinds of hard work that leads to really positive social connection, leads to helping, and I think leads to doing things that really matter. So it's an emotion that gives you a sort of motivational bandwidth to do the stuff that I think increases mattering.

And so gratitude is an emotion that facilitates that kind of self-sacrifice, the kinds of hard work that leads to really positive social connection, leads to helping, and I think leads to doing things that really matter. So it's an emotion that gives you a sort of motivational bandwidth to do the stuff that I think increases mattering.

And it's also no surprise that gratitude and experiencing more gratitude winds up making you feel happier. I think in the moment, but I think it leads to these kind of positive happiness spirals where you feel good, but you also feel more motivated to do nice stuff for other people. And that boosts your social connection, which makes you feel even happier and less lonely and so on.

And it's also no surprise that gratitude and experiencing more gratitude winds up making you feel happier. I think in the moment, but I think it leads to these kind of positive happiness spirals where you feel good, but you also feel more motivated to do nice stuff for other people. And that boosts your social connection, which makes you feel even happier and less lonely and so on.

And it's also no surprise that gratitude and experiencing more gratitude winds up making you feel happier. I think in the moment, but I think it leads to these kind of positive happiness spirals where you feel good, but you also feel more motivated to do nice stuff for other people. And that boosts your social connection, which makes you feel even happier and less lonely and so on.

Well, I think a big one is to increase your social connection, right? I mean, it's like the one hack that we know can really improve happiness overall, and that can be reaching out to friends and family members. complimenting a stranger on the street, chatting with a barista at the coffee shop, texting a friend and just saying you're thinking about them, right?

Well, I think a big one is to increase your social connection, right? I mean, it's like the one hack that we know can really improve happiness overall, and that can be reaching out to friends and family members. complimenting a stranger on the street, chatting with a barista at the coffee shop, texting a friend and just saying you're thinking about them, right?

Well, I think a big one is to increase your social connection, right? I mean, it's like the one hack that we know can really improve happiness overall, and that can be reaching out to friends and family members. complimenting a stranger on the street, chatting with a barista at the coffee shop, texting a friend and just saying you're thinking about them, right?

All these simple actions wind up making you feel a little bit less lonely and a little bit more connected. And it's often an important path to mattering. I think a second thing you can do, we just mentioned, right, is to engage in a mindset of gratitude.

All these simple actions wind up making you feel a little bit less lonely and a little bit more connected. And it's often an important path to mattering. I think a second thing you can do, we just mentioned, right, is to engage in a mindset of gratitude.

All these simple actions wind up making you feel a little bit less lonely and a little bit more connected. And it's often an important path to mattering. I think a second thing you can do, we just mentioned, right, is to engage in a mindset of gratitude.

Even if you're just feeling thankful for your morning coffee cup, right, it can make you feel like, wow, I really do have enough that I can start giving back. And that's really a path to the sort of pro-social actions that I think matter a lot for increasing social connection, doing nice things for others. but also doing things that kind of matter.