Everybody's got a big butt.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, when is it time to put down the task list and just chill for a while?

I quickly discovered that I could do yoga with one device and with another check and reply to my

emails. Also, is it wrong to feel numb to the gravity of the pandemic? You compassion this

cretan. So, Angela, I see a new study here published by researchers at the University of Zurich and Rodbaud University in the Netherlands, which argues that hedonism or pleasure-seeking leads to happiness as effectively as self-control leads to happiness.

Provocative. This seems to argue directly against the antics. as self-control leads to happiness. So provocative.

This seems to argue directly against the Angela Duckworth School of Achievement leads to happiness,

which by the way, I subscribe to as well, but now I'm starting to think, what the heck

are we all just wasting our time trying to achieve things when we'd be happier just

lying in the hammock all day?

For the record, Stephen, it's probably relationships, actually.

There's lots of research showing that our friendships and our family make us happy much

more than our achievements, but this paper, it brings up a pretty interesting and provocative counter view

to the idea that self-control is great and that we should all have more of it. And if we do,

we'll all be better off. And I should point out that in this research, it's not that self-control

comes out as the villain. So it's not that this idea of wanting to pursue

hedonic, pleasurable goals is against self-control. In fact, they're positively correlated in

the study. So people who are more self-controlled are slightly more likely to pursue hedonic goals

as they define them. So let's define hedonism or hedonic pursuits,

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