Thomas is a contract developer working for one of the fastest growing startups in Europe. He is highly paid for his age, so he earns the right to party whenever he wants. His old friends joke that he’s now part of the privileged elite, which makes him angry because he feels he has made it on his own merit. He feels conservatives are underrepresented in tech, so he often ends up confronting people who he feels are liberal just because it’s ‘cooler’.

Happiness for Thomas is living in the moment, pushing his life to the maximum. He believes results speak for themselves and success is earned on a daily basis, so he does everything he can to always perform at his peak. He doesn’t feel like he’s making progress unless he’s causing friction, but recognises that sometimes he goes overboard and has recently signed up for a mindfulness app. 

His goals

Thomas’ goals are to keep ahead of the ‘competition’ at all times by constantly building on his own success. He wants to optimise his schedule and all of his ways of working, but wants to find more balance, perhaps by reconnecting with his friends. 

Thomas thinks that work is a stage on which you prove your worth and a means to maximise the quality of your life. You should give it everything you can.

Melia landed a job at a small tech company straight after university. Her stellar work ethic and knack for reading people brought her a position of influence with matching pay. She quickly became a senior network engineer, and after a few years, she began to take advantage of being able to work wherever she wants. She met her husband while backpacking in the US and he has been a rock for her. Wherever they go they use sharing schemes and services to improve their quality of life.

She derives happiness from learning about the world. Everywhere she goes she likes getting to know people and seeing variations in culture. Travelling does take its toll and she has increasingly found that she wants to stay longer in each place to get more of a sense of stability and routine.

Her goal

Melia’s goal is to be open to new experiences and people as she sees the world but at the same time to maintain some routines and stability.

For people like Melia, work is just a way to have as many new experiences as possible.

Robert retired four years ago after spending his career in the financial sector, having worked in London and New York with large and small companies. He grew restless after a few months of retirement as it made him feel old. He decided to purchase his first road bike, a Bianchi Specialissima. Riding began to give him knee pain, so he preventatively began to invest in platelet-rich plasma and bone marrow concentration injections. He talked to a doctor about knee enhancements. And he is enthusiastic about future health tech.

He finds his greatest happiness in cycling, which has become a mix of exercise and meditation. The rhythm is like a trance that lets him forget his worries. Life is too short to pretend to be someone else, and he has the power to choose who he is and how he spends his time. He is worried about the quality of the end of his life.

His goals

Robert’s goals are to slow down and pay attention to the moments that matter while also discovering new passions to explore later in life. He always aims to keep healthy and active, so he never becomes obsolete.

For Robert, his body is a means to lead the life he wants. He has to balance living how he wants to with living in a way that preserves his health.

As a college student, Jessica still feels that she doesn’t have a clear purpose in life. She is only studying because she thinks she needs to prove to the world that she’s smart. She lives under the constant shadow of anxiety and has consistently struggled with friendships and relationships. Her emotional state is heavily influenced by her Instagram and how she looks each day. She has struggled in the past with anorexia and is terrified of boredom.

Her happiness is associated with fleeting moments of pleasure to hold off anxiety while seeking emotional connection simply for the joy of feeling. She prefers activities that combat boredom and keep her body thin —sex, drugs, and partying keep her attention away from the problems she sees in the mirror.

Her goal

Jessica wants to perfect her image to avoid anxiety and move towards a healthier lifestyle. She also wants to discover new things to avoid boredom + help her find purpose to move from small moments of pleasure to longer-term happiness.

Maria is a freelancer working for a few private clients as a consultant. She is highly invested in her health and wellbeing, tracking her daily caloric intake, sleep quality, exercises, and other health factors. She has an active membership at Soho House, Third Space Gym, and a brand new Colour Therapy Yoga Studio. She follows a strict morning and evening routine, even maintaining a shorter version when she’s on holiday. Technology is her ally to keep track of her health, but she also enjoys meditating in nature when feeling overwhelmed.

Happiness for Maria lies in the thrill she gets from achieving a goal. She believes that happiness derives from being self-aware and maintaining a healthy relationship with herself, so she maintains a strict life schedule and regularly uses yoga for  self-exploration.

Her goal

Maria wants to visualise and monitor her progress towards her long-term goals, and avoid costly, negative moments in order to be in control of her body, life and behaviour.

For people like Maria, their body and mind are vehicles that help them achieve the things they want in life. The easier it is to manage them, the happier they are.

Born in France but raised in London, Gabriel has always felt slightly out of place. Growing up, he felt more at home exploring Richmond Park and at university he surrounded himself with positive news to avoid stress. It wasn’t until he was introduced to Buddhist practices and learned that his mind and body were connected that he began to feel an inner self-awareness and sense of peace.

For people like Gabriel, happiness is neither positive nor negative: it is a state of balance in between. They aim to be content, wanting neither more nor less than they need. They value living at a slower pace in order to genuinely connect with people and appreciate the moments they live.

His goal

Gabriel wants to minimise his desires and wants and avoid overstimulation. Balancing his mental and physical health and removing active worries and suffering by focusing on authentic connection to other people and the world beyond him and his own personal desires.

For people like Gabriel, finding a meaningful and authentic connection to themselves, the planet and the people around them seems increasingly hard as manipulative powers grow around them.

Jean is a cleaner. He wakes up early in the morning to travel all over south London for work. When he finishes his day, he picks up his kids from school and spends the ride home asking them about what they learned. On the weekends, he takes the kids to the park to spend quality time with nature, away from technology. On Sundays, he brings his family to the church where he finds acceptance and belonging in shared values. He had to change churches recently because he felt it’s teachings were being diluted.

For people like Jean, their happiness rests in an exchange with God. As long as they love and fear God, the world will respond accordingly. ‘As long as you fear God, you are ok’. Entwined with this, there are responsibilities to keep the local community strong, be thankful for what they have, and avoid short term temptations.

His goal

For Jean it is critical to stay connected to God, living in line with the teachings of the church and to provide for others in the community. Providing helps his status amongst the congregation, and helps him feel a part of the community

For people like Jean their concern is that the world is threatening their belief structures and challenging their core values. Some churches are adapting, but what does that say about their values and their spirituality?

Edward loves his job because he’s ambitious and through his work he feels he’s able to contribute to the world. t His non-standard schedule frees him up to spend more nights out, hooking up, seeing friends or playing board games. The future of the planet is a genuine concern for him because he feels there’s little he can do and he sees no-one else doing anything either. He struggles to balance his ideas of stewardship over the planet with how much he loves travelling in his spare time. He wants his life on the planet to have a positive impact, not a negative one.

For people like Edward, happiness is about having control because it allows them to make the decisions that make them happy. They are happiest when their short term and long term goals are aligned, like having a career that gives them control over their lives but also contributes something to the world.

His goal:

His goal is to always be able to embrace and explore his present and singular life without having a negative impact on the world.

Edward’s struggle rests in the fact that his happiness requires him to pragmatically have a positive impact on the world, but he has no faith in existing structures of power, only in collectives of individuals.