Happiness produced from productivity?

[gggkkk]

Is happiness produced from productivity an illusion?

 

I am usually extremely productive while I'm on modafinil. Being very productive is not fun, it's hard work and required concentration, but I still feel very happy doing things and accomplishing tasks, even if I don't like them. I am also very authentic and open on days when I take nootropics. 

Now is this happiness coming from doing productive things and accomplishing things?

or 

Is it a boost that modafinil provides temporarily (basically chemicals in the "brain" lol, making me more conscious, hence increased presence resulting in more happiness?)

[Bob Seeker]

To answer you either or question, Both.
Also, happiness apart from consciousness is that you are living aligned with your values and strengths more than solely that you are being productive.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Bob Seeker

[lacsativ]

What you are experiencing is most likely Flow, which is a universal peak experience that can be had within almost any type of activity provided it meets certain conditions that are conductive towards immersion. Modafinil most likely puts you in a state of decreased mental chatter that makes it easier for you to become immersed with the activity you're engaged in, thus leading to a state of Flow. Being in Flow makes the activity you're engaged in intrinsically rewarding. 

So to answer your question, I think it's both the nootropics and the activity you engage in. 

And I don't think it's an illusion at all, perhaps the impression that it is an illusion is itself the illusion. 

Edited June 26, 2021 by lacsativ

[RobertZ]

I heard some happiness research about income—there was a correlation between some common measurements of happiness and incomes. I think maximal happiness was around $80K/year, or so. 
 

I imagine that many ways of earning $80,000 per year would require some ability to accomplish tasks.

So besides the rewarding feelings of accomplishing and owning one’s work—getting tasks done might contribute to happiness by way of income.  I am unfamiliar with any research on the question of happiness through the effects of task completion on income.

Aristotle classically talks about happiness through work, versus through philosophical contemplation.

He suggests that a person works in order to have the leisure to philosophize—a person does not engage in leisure merely to work (perhaps a person engages in mere amusements to work harder). The greatest happiness comes from the most useless task—something done for it’s own sake, and not for the sake of some other purpose. 
 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by RobertZ