Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

Dustin M. Wax teaches anthropology and women’s studies in Las Vegas, NV, where he lives with his partner, her children, and three too many dogs. His academic work focuses around the closely related topics of anthropology in the Cold War and sexuality in American culture, one of which is the subject of his forthcoming book Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War. When not trying to work out the elements of The Good Life in his own and others’ cultures, he is known to play a little guitar, listen to music, and obsessively horde books on all manner of subjects (some of which he even reads).

He has also been active in attempts to use the Internet to improve and broaden research and education, and is a founding contributor to the anthropology site Savage Minds, selected as one of the 20 Best Science Blogs by Nature in 2006. He is also a contributing editor at the personal productivity site lifehack.org, where he writes about writing, blogs about blogging, learning, studying, project management, technology, and other topics in personal development.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Dustin on the phone. We discussed his creation, and launch, of the successful podcast radio show lifehack live as well as what it takes to succeed as a radio host. I should also say that Dustin is one of my favorite writers on the ‘net for the way he seamlessly integrates business and humor.

1. How do you define happiness?

Happiness for me is a feeling of fulfillment, whether that’s finishing up a job well done or sharing time with the people closest to me or experiencing something beautiful and amazing.

2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your happiness now, versus when you were a child?

I’m much happier than I was as a child, I part because I was terribly shy and thus didn’t connect with many people. Today, I basically get to do things I love every day and connect with people regularly. In absolute terms, I’d say I’m at “8″, but relative to my childhood, I’d say “10″.

3. What do you do on a daily basis that brings you happiness? (and how consistent is the feeling of happiness throughout your day)

I’m lucky enough to have two jobs doing things I’m really good at (teaching and writing), both of which allow me to make a difference in people’s lives. So I’m in the enviable position of having work that makes me happy. I also make sure to spend lots of time with my partner and my step-children — for instance, we have a sit-down dinner every night, and everyone is expected to share something.

At the same time, work has its challenges, especially on days I teach 3 or 4 classes. I get worn out, and that makes me less happy. And I have to deal with the less fun stuff, like editing and grading and dealing with administrative matters — work that isn’t as engaging and satisfying.

4. What things take away from your happiness? What can be done to lessen their impact or remove them from your life?

I’m not a great financial manager, which has caused some problems that can make me very unhappy indeed. And I’m less happy when people let me down, whether it’s my step-kids failing to realize their potential or my students trying to find the easy way out of doing the work of learning. For the money matters, I’m not sure how to lessen their impact or remove them — I’m not in a place to repair the problems I’ve caused in the past, though I’m certainly a lot more careful now to avoid creating more problems in the future.

With people letting me down, I’m not sure I’d want to lessen their impact or remove them — what, have lower expectations? Avoid being around people who don’t live up to my standards? You take the bad along with the good in relationships, and if the choice is between being happy all the time and connecting, I take connecting. I don’t have to be happy all the time.

5. What do you plan on doing in the future that will bring you even more happiness?

For the last year or so, I’ve been rethinking just about every aspect of my life. The ultimate goal is to make myself less dependent on others (for example, on my department chairs to schedule my classes) and to create a living directly from my passions (e.g. writing). In part, this means moving more to freelance work and developing the economic independence to do that, which is my big project this year.

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To get more info about what the Happiness Project is and isn’t, please visit the Introduction Post. To see a running list of all participants, which I will be updating as things happen, please visit the Happiness Project Page.

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