Pretty much most of what we do and don't do is about trying to maximize the happiness in our worlds. Take the job, don't take the job. Buy the pet, don't buy the pet. Date him or her, dump him or her. Argue with my kids, ignore my kids. Eat the muffin, don't eat the muffin. And while making good decisions is important, and breaking new ground or getting new stuff is fun, this is not the way to maximize happiness. We know this, because that is what everyone does. This is the strategy everyone uses. It is the idea that if I could just get what I want, then I would be happy, but when you look around you don’t see an excess of happiness. But here is the life hack that we are going to see laid out in the Bible—a teaching by Jesus himself. The key to maximizing happiness is not getting what you want, but appreciating what you've been given. If you want to find out how you are doing…look to how much you thank God and thank others for what you already have.