Kennon Sheldon || How to Be an Optimal Human

“The happiest person is the person doing good stuff for good reasons.” 

— Kennon Sheldon

Dr. Kennon Sheldon is a psychologist at the University of Missouri who studies motivation, goals, and well-being, from both a self-determination theory and a positive psychology perspective. He has authored or co-authored multiple books, including “Optimal human being: An integrated multi-level perspective”. Dr. Sheldon has been cited more than 30,000 times, and in 2010, he was named one of the 20 most cited social psychologists.

In this wide-ranging episode we discuss:

How Ken went from aspiring musician to leading research on goals

Whether the pursuit of happiness is worth it

Is happiness in your genes?

The link between goals and happiness

The what and why of motivated goal pursuit

The basic needs of self-determination theory

Deprivation vs. growth needs

Self-concordance theory

The link between values and happiness

How much can we use science as a guide to values?

Are there some ways of being more conducive to happiness than others?

How to get in touch with your OVP (organismic valuing process)

Marrying positive psychology and humanistic psychology

The relationship between personal goals and personal projects

How to know when to change your goals

The good life: well-being or well-doing?

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