This post may contain affiliate links. Please read the disclosure statement for more info.

The worst happiness level to be is a 6 or 7 out of 10

Not every day can be a 10 out of 10 just like not every day can be a 2 out of 10. Most days we live somewhere in the middle. This day-to-day living is filled with mundane tasks and actions. The number one way to escape from the mundane is to live with a growth mindset every day.

But you might ask me, “Why is a 6 or 7 the worst happiness level? Wouldn’t it logically be a 0, 1, or 2?” I reason that a 6 or 7 is the worst because if we are really at a 0, 1, or 2 out of 10, then we will do something about it. When I feel down in the dumps, I do something about it. I don’t just continue to feel awful.

Side Note: No one is perfect. I don’t care what you see on social media, at some point every single person on this planet feels unhappy from time to time. That is healthy and it is okay. Just don’t let it linger. Do something about it.

So, if I hit that low on the unhappiness scale, I don’t stay there for long. More often than not, it shifts to a 4 or 5 when I get excited and see progress. Then I hit a 6 or 7 and think I can coast to a 10. That good enough feeling is where I stop pushing. And that is the partner of the mundane and the enemy of happiness.

Escape from the Mundane

The definition of mundane according to Oxford Languages (and Google) is the “lack of interest or excitement; dull.” I take this as it means something is just plain boring. Without anything interesting or exciting, what makes the day, week, month, or year worth it?

Therefore, I challenge you to make tomorrow interesting or exciting. Do something different. It doesn’t have to be big. It can be driving to work or the store using a different route. You can use a different spice in the usual Taco Tuesday recipe that will figuratively (and literally) spice it up!

All of these little things can keep us going for a little while, but what if I want a lasting impact? What if I want to move the needle from living in the 6 to 7 range to living in the 8 to 9 range? That is where the growth mindset comes in.

The Growth Mindset

There are many approaches to the growth mindset from different sources, but the one I like the best is from Dr. Carol Dweck, a Stanford professor and psychologist. She has done many studies around the main theory of “yet” and “not yet.” I highly recommend watching her 9-minute talk on this below.

What I take this to mean is that we are never finished. If we can get an answer wrong or fail an exam or project, it’s not over yet. We reframe the problem as we are not yet completed. We learn to keep pushing until we have understood the errors in our process.

That’s another point that Dr. Dweck makes; reinforcing effort and process versus intelligence and talent. When I praise someone that they are smart and that is why they were able to solve the problem, they are convinced that their innate abilities will help them solve any problem. If I praise someone that their effort and thought-process were why they were able to solve the problem, they learn that hard work and a good process will help them solve any problem.

What happens when, not if, these two people get a problem that they can’t solve. The first person will get frustrated and angry at why they aren’t smart enough. They were taught that their talent would help them solve any problem. The second person will try harder, work through mistakes and learn from them, always rethinking their process. They were taught that the most effort and best problem-solving process would help them solve any problem.

The first person has a fixed mindset. The second person has a growth mindset. Only the second person has the habits to solve any problem.

Growing out of the Mundane

Let’s get back to becoming happy, which is different than being satisfied. We can be grateful for what we have but still unhappy because we want more. That’s where the 6 or 7 out of 10 comes back in. We can understand that becoming happy is about challenging ourselves to grow out of the mundane and into the exciting.

But exciting is new, it is different, and therefore it is scary. So, we stay at a 6 or 7 because it is comfortable. We know what we are getting ourselves into each day. It’s not horrible like a 1 or a 2, but it’s not great like an 8 or a 9. The fear of different and new is exciting but scary enough for most of us to not try to grow.

Even when we do take the leap of faith, we will almost always encounter an obstacle along the way. If we keep the growth mindset that this is a journey and we are not “there” yet, we can continue to push through and grow. That growth will be new and interesting and exciting and certainly not mundane.

With each new challenge we conquer, we become more confident which leads to greater happiness. A rich life is a confident and happy life. That’s where I want to go. Will you join me?