Source : THE AGE NEWS
Finland is a country that bats well above its weight. The northern European nation is less than half the size of New South Wales, has a population of just 5.6 million people, and surprised the world – including many of its citizens – when it was first named the happiest country on Earth in 2019.
Last month, Finland held onto the title for an unprecedented eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report – a list published annually by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an initiative of the United Nations and Gallup research.
Finland: beautiful, serene, and a little bit “boring”.Credit: Getty Images
Every year, 100,000 people are asked how satisfied they are with their lives to compare differences in personal and national happiness. This year, Australia fell one place to be ranked 11th in the world.
As part of research for my latest book, Work Backwards, I spent almost a month travelling around Finland to try to get to the bottom of why they’ve risen to the top of the happiness charts and stayed there.
I discovered that one of the main reasons is how they think about their jobs and what they do. A lecturer at Helsinki’s Aalto University, Frank Martela, an expert on the intersection between Finnish culture and happiness, helped me understand this better.
Sitting in his office, surrounded by folders of his own research on the topic, Martela explains that many of his compatriots have “a bit of a melancholic self-image” and view themselves as introverted and quiet. Another word to describe this that I kept hearing repeated around Finland?
It’s easy to get caught up in a culture that always pushes for more, which is why the Finnish approach to satisfaction is so refreshing.
Many of them openly describe themselves as being a little bit boring, and they are perfectly OK with that.
I wrote recently in defence of “boring” jobs, and the underrated value that can bring to how you approach work. In a similar vein, living a simple life where you know what’s important to you, and have regularly access to that, can help increase your satisfaction levels.
The sources of Finnish happiness run deep. They have a strong welfare system, including healthy unemployment benefits, labour regulation and parental leave, and every child under school age has access to municipal day care, partly funded by income levels.
This means that parents with young children can get some respite and work flexibly if they wish. These all contribute to a high safety net that means Finns have less fear about switching jobs if they’re unhappy, or reducing work hours to study courses that interest them.
There’s also a strong sense of life-work balance in Finland, with five to six weeks of paid leave a year, plus a strong connection to nature and community that comes with their strong sauna culture. About 90 per cent of Finns have a sauna at least once a week.
Underpinning all of this is a unique way of thinking that permeates their offices and homes: Research suggests more people in Finland feel they have “enough” compared with other countries.
This comes from cultural values and social structures but does not mean they are all happiness freaks with smiles they can’t wipe from their faces, just that they are generally content with what they have.
In the workplace, one of the keys to contentment is a greater appreciation that there’s nothing wrong with being precisely where you are right now. The answer is not a fancier title, another promotion, a greater workload, increased stress or a higher salary. It’s about knowing what “enough” is for you and being content when you get there.
It’s too easy to get caught up in a culture that always pushes for more, which is why the Finnish approach to satisfaction is so refreshing. It’s a clear reminder, both at work and at home, that happiness doesn’t come from worrying about what you don’t have, but learning to be content with everything that you do.
Tim Duggan is the author of Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter at timduggan.substack.com
