“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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