Transformed my life by focusing on evolutionary basic needs

I'm a designer and years ago became interested in questions around design intent.

For every design problem, there is a goal. (Faster, better, stronger, lighter, more beautiful, easier, etc, etc). And we try to achieve these design goals because we believe that the outcomes will make us happier or better off.

I started to think "If happiness is the ultimate end goal, what if I just skip the intermediate steps and optimize my life for happiness?"

So I did that. I tried to design and optimize everything in my life for happiness.

What is happiness? I settled on the idea that happiness is an evolved sensation that indicates when our needs in terms of survival have been met. Sex = survival = happiness, Food = survival = happiness, friends = survival = happiness, etc.

So I organized my evolutionary basic needs in terms of how quickly their absence would kill me, and then I did everything I could to optimize each one. Breathing, Water, Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Shelter, Friends, etc.

I learned how to breath, deep breathing, in through the nose, etc. I got my hydration right and stopped drinking soda, and no alcohol. I perfected my sleep, regular times, dark and cool room, no screens, etc. I got rid of processed foods, no refined sugar, and stuck to whole foods. I stared moving my body everyday. I focused on my friendships and relationships.

And, I was happy!

But it also changed how I think about happiness. We tend to think happiness comes from some higher order needs or achievements... but if we think about it in evolutionary terms it opens up some really simple and beautiful ways to experience it on a more fundamental and regular basis.

It has also changed how I think about sadness. This is also an important evolutionary mechanism, and I can feel it, and listen to what it is telling me, and then move back to happiness.

So if you are looking to make any kind of change in your life, my experience has been to get your evolutionary basic needs right first, and everything else will fall into place quite nicely. You can design your life for happiness.