The Pursuit of Happiness

Tell Us What Makes You Happy

How do you look for fulfillment—and does what you do work? Take our poll and learn how your answers compare with the results of TIME's national poll.
READ THE COVER STORY ON HOW TO FIND HAPPINESS HERE.

  1. To begin with, we're interested in the way people feel these days. Just thinking about yourself these days, would you say that you are happy just about all the time, most of the time, just some of the time, or not very often?
  2. Do you generally consider yourself an optimist, a pessimist, or somewhere in-between?
  3. Thinking back, how often would you say that you have felt down or very unhappy in the past few months?
  4. On another topic, are you now as happy as you expected to be at this stage of life, happier than you expected, or not as happy?
  5. If you had to choose, which makes you happier — working toward a goal, or finally achieving a goal?
  6. Do you think you're pretty much born with your basic level of happiness or is it possible for people to make themselves happier during their lives?
  7. Are you employed full time, part time, unemployed but looking for work, not employed and not looking for work, a student, or retired?
  8. Do you get more satisfaction from your job and career or more from your personal life?
  9. How would you rate the balance between your work life and your personal life? Would you say that your work life and personal life are balanced most of the time, do you spend too much time at work and not enough time on your personal life, or too much time on your personal life and not enough time at work?
  10. Thinking back to the economic downturn of the past few years, how has the downturn affected your sense of optimism about the future? Would you say that you are now much more optimistic about the future than you were then, a little more optimistic, a little more pessimistic, much more pessimistic, or has your sense of optimism not changed since the downturn?
  11. Do you personally ever go onto Internet social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or other sites?
  12. How often do you go onto social media sites?
  13. Thinking about social media, have you ever felt better about your life after spending time on a social media site or looking at someone else's Facebook page or other social media site?
  14. Did spending time on social media make you feel better about your life mainly because...?
  15. Have you ever felt worse about your life after spending time on a social media site or looking at someone else's Facebook page or other social media site?
  16. Did spending time on social media make you feel worse about your life mainly because...?
  17. Do you have your own personal or a family social media page on Facebook or other social media sites?
  18. Some social media sites have what's called a 'like' button, that is, a feature that allows users to show their support for specific comments, pictures, wall posts or fan pages. Have you checked to see how many 'likes' you've received for any of your postings?
  19. Has the number of likes on one of your social media posts ever changed your mood or how you felt about yourself?
  20. Thinking about how people make themselves look on their Facebook page or other social media pages, do you believe that other people make themselves look happier, more attractive and more successful on Facebook and other social media profiles than they really are, or not?
  21. What about your own Facebook page or other social media profile? Would you say that it shows you the way you really are or does it maybe make you look happier, more successful or more attractive than you really are?
    22. The Pursuit of Happiness The Pursuit of Happiness