Starting tomorrow, I will start talking about this book called Before Happiness by Shawn Achor. The last series of articles on Efficiently Inefficient was rather complicated and, as a result, attracted attention from fewer (but more hardcore) readers. I thought it might be appropriate to not just shift to a lower gear and discuss issues which are a lot more accessible to readers of this blog but to also try to interpret Shawn's ideas from the perspective of someone who is trying to seek financial independence. After all, I'm quite sure that the freedom to pick and choose what you want to do with your life that is unfettered by financial obstacles could result in a much higher level of happiness. Of course, the other reason why I chose this book is that Shawn Achor is a Harvard-trained researcher and whatever he says is backed by research. This is vastly ......