Things You Can Do To Make Yourself Happier
(Realistic tricks you can actually apply… even on your tough days.)
The World Happiness Report 2025, published in March, ranks Finland as the happiest country for the eighth year running.
And if you study more on how citizens live their when they are their happiest, you’ll see that Finns value nature, spend time there, valuing quietness and peace around.
Even though they are a part of the same world they are living, they might live happier than most of us only because that country’s priority is different.
While it might not be possible for all of us to shift to Finland but we can try making our small world, small spaces around us more jolly, peaceful, and happy.
Because happiness isn’t about trying harder. It’s about removing the things that drain you and adding small self care routine moments that lift you.
So you don’t need “101 things that make me happy.” You just need a handful of things that work, but consistently.
Here are unique, practical, psychology-based ways to become happier, even if you’re tired, overwhelmed, or wondering how to be happy when depressed.
Give yourself a “2-minute reset window” throughout the day
This is tiny but powerful.
Every time you feel irritated, low, or unfocused, do a 2-minute reset:
🥤Maybe drink a glass of water.
🦔Stretch your spine.
🫁Take 3 deep breaths.
If at home, you can go wash your face.
The point is to step outside your room, outside your comfort zone, even during times when you don’t feel like it.
If you are a phone addict, you can practice silencing your phone
This interrupts the stress cycle in your brain.
You feel lighter in less than 120 seconds.
It’s the smallest mood-improvement hack ever.
Keep a “soft joy list” instead of a “happy list”
Most blogs tell you to list 10 things that make me happy or 101 things that make me happy.
But here’s something different:
Make a soft joy list: things that bring you peace, not excitement.
Some examples could be:
🍵 holding a warm cup
🌄 slow mornings
🎵 reading with soft music
👔 folding clothes
🪴watered plants
🛏️clean bed sheets
These are simple things that make you happy because they calm your nervous system, and calm is the foundation of happiness. Most often what we do is make some happy list that boosts our excitement and fun, but they only work when you take out time to do those activities. And if you don’t, you start feeling that you are not happy or that you are not living your best life.
But when you start noticing the small things in your everyday routine, you start loving your daily routine too, focus on yourself, happy living your daily life too.
Use the “1% cheer-up strategy”
When you feel really low, your mind rejects big changes.
So aim for 1% better, not 100% happy.
Like whenever you feel sad in the moment, ask yourself: “What will make me feel 1% better right now?”
It could be:
🪟 opening your window
🫂 texting one friend
🫖 making tea
🧹cleaning one part of your room
🎵 listening to one song
🌄 sitting in sunlight
🚿 taking a quick shower
Brain information can travel up to an impressive 350 miles per hour. The NorthWestern Medicine mentions that when a neuron is stimulated, it generates an electrical impulse that travels from cell to cell. So the moment you shift your thinking analogy but just one action, it triggers another and this way the brain follows momentum.
So you do not have to put more pressure to come out of a bad moment. Just 1% shift, that one small push and you change the whole narrative.
Use the “emotional audit” trick
Instead of asking “Why am I sad?” ask “What exactly am I feeling right now?”
Most people mix:
anxiety
tiredness
hunger
overstimulation
loneliness
overwhelm
boredom
into one word: sadness or unhappiness.
Write the emotion on paper. Naming the emotion reduces it.
It’s called the concept of Affect Labelling commonly put out as ‘name it to tame it’.
It activates the brain’s emotional control centers, particularly the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVLPFC), which subsequently dampens the activity of the amygdala, the brain’s fear-processing center.
This trick is used in therapy, and it works especially when you’re wondering how to be happy when depressed or mentally numb.
Do one thing that makes your future self’s life easier
Not bigger. Not perfect. Just easier.
Examples:
👘prepare tomorrow’s outfit
🍶set your water bottle on your desk
🛌clean your bed
🤸pack your gym bag
📧send that one email
🗒️schedule to-dos for tomorrow
Most of the time you feel helpless in your present because your future feels uncertain. So the moment you take that one step in brining clarity you start feeling hopeful in your present, and hope is a huge part of the happiness.
Use the “Vitamin P” trick 😛
Research shows that people with a small personal project feel happier and more in control of their life.
Your “project” can be:
👨🍳 learning one new recipe
🔖 reading a book
🌱 planting something
📝starting a 5-minute journal
💡redecorating a small corner
🧘♂️mastering one yoga pose
🏫 learning a language for 5 minutes a day
Your personal project does not have to be something that adds to your career, growth, or have a purpose. Not everything has to be career-driven. Sometimes a personal project brings meaning back into your days. So whatever you feel like, do not forget that you need Vitamin P in your life.
Create a “low-energy joy ritual” for bad days
Most people don’t know how to feel better when they have no energy. So if they feel bad, they keep feeling bad, until something good happens. But what if you can bring yourself out from the whole low-energy mood all by yourself?
So create a ritual that works even when you’re tired.
Example ritual:
🕯️ dim lights
🎧 soft music
💆♀️ skincare
🍵 warm drink
😤slow breathing
📝 journaling
Your ritual do not have to be productive. When you feel bad you automatically start feeling that there is nothing good happening in your life. So learn to keep your mood aside and calm yourself down so that you are more comfortable. This is one of the simplest ways tricks to make yourself happy on dull days.
Clean “visual noise” if not your whole house
Science calls it the visual load effect. When your eyes see mess, your brain feels overwhelmed.
Here’s a hack:
Clean only what’s in your direct visual field:
your desk
your bedside
your window area
Not your entire home.
You’ll feel the difference immediately.
Build a “people menu” instead of a people list
Not everyone in your life needs the same kind of energy and not everyone in your life can give you the same kind. So instead of being with everyone in the same way, have a designed “people menu” for you. People with whom you share the best of the particular emotions. It could be your
- funny friend
- calm friend
- practical friend
- comforting friend
- honest friend
And once you understand what to share with whom you will get clarity in every aspect of your emotion. It can become your powerful hack when you are searching for ways to be happy in life.
Practice “micro courage” instead of confidence
One can never feel satiated and confident all the time when external environment can challenge you in ways not thought of. But at that moment, what you need is tiny courage. To sail through that particular external problem. It could be sending the message you are scared to send, asking a question, saying no, maybe sharing your feelings because you do not trust anymore, or showing up even when you think you are not at your best.
That “micro courage” combo in you will build that confidence in you which adds to your happiness.
So if you ask me…
You don’t have to chase happiness. You just have to create space for it.
Because happiness doesn’t come from “10 ways to be happy” lists. It comes from small, real choices you make throughout the day.
Start with the idea that feels easiest today. And slowly, life will begin to feel lighter. Your mind will begin to feel softer. And you will begin to feel more like… you.