Frameworks for Happiness

“Most of the frameworks for happiness conclude that there are four things required: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (meaning the depths of relationships) and being part of something bigger than yourself.”

Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

— Epictetus

Migrant Boat

Failure shouldn’t be punished

I think failure shouldn’t be punished as long as fundamentals were followed. We sign up to do hard things, and sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right. A risk-averse culture is a culture that stifles innovation and personnel development. There’s some great case studies on the Soviet space program and how they literally demolished the US in the space race. We here in the US think we won but that’s because we’re consumers of our own government’s propaganda. The Soviet’s beat us to nearly every major milestone except for docking, comms satellites, and the moon landing.

The Soviets had the first satellite. First living animal in space. First craft to leave Earth orbit. First to land an object on the moon. First to orbit the moon and photograph the dark side. First man in space. First man to orbit. First EVA in a spacesuit. First space station. First satellite. And their rocket designs were so good we couldn’t even come close to matching their efficiencies. There’s a neat documentary you can get to on Youtube called something like “Engines that came in from the cold” and it’s incredible.