These are the results of a 10-day study I did on myself to find what made me happy and stressed. It started as a question when I wondered why I feel different on weekend days compared to week days. These are just the results. Full breakdown is here: http://blog.crew.co/happy

1. A “How to be happy” Experiment
By Mikael Cho

2. Why?
What is it about the weekends that makes us feel
better? Even though I enjoy what I do for work, I don't
feel the same pressure on the weekend as I do during
the week.

3. The Experiment
To find out what it was about weekends that made me feel
good, I designed a 10-day experiment where each day I
recorded:
• What I ate/drank
• My sleep
• A summary of how I felt during that day
• A (1-10) rating for the day (10 being an ideal day)
I wanted to see if I could better understand how every variable
affected my mood. If I found my sources of stress and
happiness, then I could identify stressors to remove and
happiness factors to add to feel better about each day.

4. Results

5. Day 1
Sleep time: 9h 40m
Asleep: 1:15am
Awake: 10:55am
Food:
Oatmeal
Latte
Chick peas
Corn with parmesan cheese
Pizza
Salad
Carrots
Almonds
Summary:
Didn't get much done from my list. Had an argument. Interrupted while writing.
Felt stressed during day. Didn't workout.
Rating: 4/10

6. Day 2
Sleep time: 6h 48m
Asleep: 1:09am
Awake: 7:58am
Food:
Oatmeal
Subway brown bread, turkey 12"
Almonds & pistachios
Subway brown bread, turkey 6"
Latte
Crazy Asian fusion food
Summary:
Got up early without hitting snooze. Did some good work in the AM. Did the one
most important thing. Had laughs with friends. Wish I could have done more work
but had to do some lighting installations at the condo which made me happy
because they look nice.
Rating: 7/10

7. Day 3
Sleep time: 6h 31m
Asleep: 1:37am
Awake: 8:08am
Food:
Almonds and blackberries
12" turkey sandwich on wholewheat bread
Reuben sandwich on white bread
Chicken salad
Summary:
Took me a while to fall asleep. Got up without hitting snooze. Did a short
workout but it didn't make me feel a ton better. Didn't accomplish enough in the
AM so felt behind. Moved things for the office and didn't get any work done.
Got to share some laughs with the team. Felt really tired after Reuben
sandwich.
Rating: 5/10

8. Day 4 (Saturday)
Sleep time: 8h 20m
Asleep: 12:27am
Awake: 8:47am
Food:
Eggs with veggies
Chicken cutlets with cheese
Chicken salad
Popcorn
Pasta and meatballs
Summary:
Slept another hour after my alarm went off. Felt good. Did some work early in
the AM. Felt good. Went to Steph’s aunt’s house and then felt like I was falling
behind a bit. Went to soccer and felt sluggish (likely from the chicken cutlets).
Felt great to get on the field again though. Saw a doubleheader movie. Then
had pasta before bed which seems to have upset my stomach.
Rating: 7/10

9. Day 5 (Sunday)
Sleep time: 6h 42m
Asleep: 3:28am
Awake: 10:10am
Food:
Eggs with veggies and turkey
Almonds
Salad, broccoli breaded chicken
Celery, peanut butter, cranberries
Dark chocolate covered raisins
Summary:
Low stress day. Felt good because not a lot of company demands so was able to
catch up on some work. Had the chance to do some good writing. Steph’s uncle
came over and had a fun convo with him. Didn't feel overwhelmed all day which
felt good.
Rating: 8/10

10. Day 6
Sleep time: 8h 59m
Asleep: 11:38pm
Awake: 8:38am
Food:
Oatmeal
Turkey sandwich whole wheat
Latte
Black coffee
Squash
Filet Mignon
Green beans and cabbage
Summary:
Felt energized today. Got a lot of sleep. Love my new office space. Got a lot
done on my to-do list but was only able to do it by staying up late. Business
numbers looked good. Had a good conversation with a friend over coffee.
Rating: 8/10

11. Day 7
Sleep time: 6h 4m
Asleep: 2:24am
Awake: 8:28am
Food:
Oatmeal
Chick peas and celery
Sushi
Tea
Protein bar
Banana
6-inch turkey Subway
Summary:
Started work later in the AM than I wanted and felt tired. Unexpected things
came up in the morning. Probably did only about 1 hr creative work but I would
have liked to do closer to 4 hrs. Had to do too many thing at night so felt tired.
Also not having food available and not working out didn't make me feel good.
Rating: 5/10

12. Day 8
Sleep time: 7h 51m
Asleep: 12:17am
Awake: 8:08am
Food:
Oatmeal
Chicken salad
Tea
Black coffee
Banana
Peanut Butter and Apple
Stuffed pork chops
Rice and beans
Green beans
Summary:
Woke up with a bit of a stomach ache. I think it was the late night pasta. Felt
tired, had some interruptions in the AM but then had a good coffee. Zoned in
and got to write. Had good tea and a healthy lunch. Worked out.
Rating: 8/10

13. Day 9
Sleep time: 6h 24m
Asleep: 12:31am
Awake: 6:55am
Food:
Oatmeal
Almonds
Stuffed pork chops
Chick peas
Corn
Apple
Broccoli
Seed crackers
Coffee
Summary:
Finished a blog post. Didn't get to do enough work. Played basketball. Felt tired
at night.
Rating: 7/10

14. Day 10
Sleep time: 6h 24m
Asleep: 12:31am
Awake: 6:55am
Food:
Oatmeal
Almonds
Chick peas
Corn
Protein bar
Apple peanut butter
Crackers and hummus
Seaweed salad
Pickles
Vinegar cole slaw
Summary:
Wish could have got more done. Happy about the press we got. Brain felt tired.
It might have been the naming exercise for the company. Happy we got some
food for the office so we don't have go out and get food all the time.
Rating: 7/10