The pursuit of happiness — enshrined in the Declaration of Independence as one of our unalienable rights along with life and liberty — is in reality big and daunting. Sometimes, it can feel difficult to know where to start, especially when American culture and conventional wisdom tends to get it so wrong most of the time.

Having spent the last 10 years immersed in the science of happiness and writing my book “New Happy,” I know there are simple yet powerful, research-backed steps you can take to experience more happiness today. The more you practice, the more instinctive they’ll become. 

These five small steps, sprinkled throughout your day, have the potential to transform it. 

It’s far better to share your emotions with someone you trust than to keep your feelings to yourself, research shows. 

For example, sharing positive news with someone in your life can increase your own joy and give them a chance to experience it, too. If someone is there to hold your hand when you’re in pain, it reduces the intensity of your suffering. 

Pursuing meaningful goals is an integral part of living a happy life. But goals that feel overwhelming can lead people to procrastinate. 

Remind yourself that you don’t have to achieve your objective today; you can just move a little bit closer. Every action you take and every forward movement you notice can enhance the hope and motivation you feel.

Start small. Set a timer and say to yourself, “For the next 10 minutes, I’m going to do something that moves me toward my goals.” For example, if your goal is to start your own business, brainstorm potential names or products until the timer goes off. 

Helping other people is one of the most reliable and powerful ways to feel better. Kindness can positively affect your emotional and even physical well-being — lowering blood pressure and cortisol, a stress hormone. 

Take a moment to think about who in your life is having a hard time and what you might do to support them. It can be as simple as sending a text message, sharing a funny video, dropping off a meal, or inviting them to spend time together. 

The culture we live in, which I call Old Happy, teaches us that we need to do everything by ourselves. As a result, you might start to believe that asking for help means you’re “giving up” or “failing.” 

But it actually shows you’re committed to persevering, improving, and growing. When you’re struggling, consider who in your life has done what you’re trying to do and what type of support you need. Then reach out and ask for it. 

We wildly underestimate how much other people want to help us. Since performing acts of kindness makes people happier, you’re giving someone a chance to experience happiness, too. 

Thanks to our brain’s negativity bias and Old Happy’s cultural conditioning, it’s all too easy to focus on what we don’t have: the promotion we haven’t gotten, the item we want to buy, or the ways in which we don’t feel good enough. 

But studies show that the more you refocus your attention on what you do have, the more content you’ll be. So ask yourself: “What’s going right, right now?” 

There’s a lot to be thankful for: a helpful colleague, a chat with a good friend, a delicious meal, or a beautiful sunset. You just have to pause and notice it. 

Stephanie Harrison is the founder of The New Happy, an organization advancing a new philosophy of happiness. She is an expert in happiness, speaker, designer, and author of the book ”New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong.” Follow her on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through Sept. 2, 2024.

Meredith Swanson has been nannying in New York City for more than a decade — but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the job helped her go viral on TikTok. 

On July 1, the 33-year-old posted a 90-second clip on her account @meredithgswanson walking people through a day in her life as a nanny in the Hamptons. 

Swanson, who is an actress, singer and dancer by trade, calls nannying her “survival job” — the one that covers her bills and living expenses as she pursues a career in entertainment. 

In the video, Swanson drives from her apartment in Manhattan to the Hamptons — a commute that takes about two hours — and settles into her nannying routine, which includes picking up the children she watches from tennis camp, taking them to the beach and grabbing donuts at a bakery downtown.

Within days, the TikTok racked up nearly 1.5 million views.

“I was stunned,” says Swanson, who started vlogging about nannying in the Hamptons over a year ago. 

Soon, her comments were flooded with questions about the gig: How did she become a nanny? Where are the parents? What’s the pay like? Is working in the Hamptons all it’s cracked up to be? 

Working in child care “is not for the faint of heart,” says Swanson. “But it’s the best job I’ve ever had.” 

Swanson moved to Manhattan shortly after graduating college in 2013 to pursue her dream of performing on Broadway. 

She took a part-time job as a hostess at a steakhouse in the city and nannied for families in her neighborhood in the mornings and afternoons to earn money between auditions. 

“It paid the bills, but I wasn’t happy,” Swanson says. Working late shifts and weekends at the restaurant was burning her out, too.

In 2018, Swanson says she realized that she felt “more energized and fulfilled” working with children than she ever did in a restaurant — so she quit her hostess gig to work part-time at My Gym, a children’s gym in Manhattan. 

That job introduced Swanson to the families she would work with for the next six years, including the one she works for now. 

“It’s all just been through word of mouth and networking,” Swanson says of her child-care career. ” I’ve been very, very fortunate with how nannying just fell into my lap.” 

She didn’t start working in the Hamptons until June 2020, when the family she worked for invited her to be a live-in nanny at their beach house four days a week through the end of the summer.

Swanson follows a similar schedule for the family she’s with this summer. She started watching the children earlier this year, and plans to continue working with them part-time for at least the next two years. 

Between June and August, Swanson works from the Hamptons as a live-in nanny Mondays through Thursdays, from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., watching two boys under 7 (Swanson declined to share the exact location in the Hamptons to protect her employers’ privacy). 

On Fridays and weekends, she’s back in Manhattan. Every family she’s worked with in the Hamptons has loaned her a car for the summer, which is how she commutes.

“Summers are slow for auditioning, so I essentially have a 3-day weekend,” she adds. “That kind of flexibility has been amazing.” 

Swanson says the average rate for nannying in the Hamptons, based on her experience, is anywhere between $25 and $60 an hour. Care.com puts the average rate for a live-in nanny in East Hampton at $26.33 an hour. 

“It wasn’t until I started nannying that I became financially secure,” she says. “There are some years where I’ve made close to six figures from working in child care alone, which is really cool. People underestimate how viable this career path is.”

Nannying can be “exhausting, but so much fun,” Swanson shares. 

She gets several breaks throughout the day as both parents work from home, and take turns getting the boys ready in the morning, feeding them dinner and putting them to bed. 

That gives Swanson time to exercise, read, grab a coffee or go window shopping in Southampton. 

Burnout is high in the child-care profession because of the long hours and staffing shortages, among other challenges — but that hasn’t been the case for Swanson.

The most difficult part of nannying, she says, is adapting to how parents prefer to discipline or communicate with their children.

“You might have a certain way of how you want to handle a meltdown or temper tantrum, but that might not be the same way that the parents would handle it,” she says. “I don’t want to confuse the kids, so I always try to communicate upfront with the parents and get on the same page off the bat.”

Once the summer ends, Swanson will cut back her schedule to 20 hours per week so she has more time for auditions, which pick up in the fall. 

Though she doesn’t plan to continue nannying long-term, she’s enjoying it for now.

“I’m hoping that within the next couple of years, I’ll have kids of my own, and I’d like to save my energy for them,” she says. “But it’s been an incredibly rewarding career. I love helping people, it’s a privilege to be trusted to take care of someone else’s child and bring joy into their life.” 

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

I’ve been living in Finland, the world’s happiest country, for five years now. I think one of the secrets to the happiness of the Finnish people is the country’s work culture. 

Getting work here as a foreigner can be tough, but I’ve been fortunate to have two different corporate jobs in Finland. One job was at a start-up software company with under 50 employees, and the other was at a manufacturing company with over 500 employees. 

I quickly found that their approach to things like vacation time, parental leave and benefits differed from the US. There are a lot of aspects of work life here that I appreciate, but there was a lot that surprised me and took some time to adjust to. 

In the last year, I took what I learned, launched my own marketing firm and started working for myself. These are a few things that stand out to me about corporate life in Finland:

DON’T MISS: Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure

Many workplaces are flexible and allow employees to choose a schedule that fits their lifestyle.

In Finland, typical office hours go from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. One small culture shock I experienced early on is that when workdays often start so early, some people start going to lunch around 11 a.m. Another surprise was how dark it is during the winter when you arrive and when you leave the office.

For many corporate jobs, the work week is 37.5 hours. Overtime hours are not paid in salary, but in corresponding time off. So, if you work a lot one week, it’s normal to do less the next week or take more vacation days. 

If you have an appointment or some obligations for your children during the work day, that can be considered paid time off. In Finland, you’ll often get paid double if you work on Sundays.

It feels like, in Finland, managers and bosses respect employees’ time off. If it’s after 4 p.m., people do not expect their colleagues to respond to an email or answer their work phone. The flexible hours are meant to allow people to have more time in the evenings for hobbies, activities and picking up kids from school.

The amount of paid vacation time you accumulate working in Finland feels like a treasure, coming from the U.S. 

Some people, depending on the industry and their tenure at their job, can have up to 38 paid vacation days a year. For every month you work, you accumulate two and half paid vacation days.

There’s a law in Finland that you have to take two consecutive weeks of vacation in the summer and then you can use the rest of your vacation as you please. I love how it feels like they essentially force you to take a vacation in Finland. During the summer, you actually receive a 50% bonus for the vacation days you do take off.

The whole month of July is basically a ghost town in Finnish corporate offices. You’ll receive many out of office automatic email responses. Generally, important matters are postponed until August at the earliest. 

I don’t have children yet, but seeing how the parental leave worked in practice for my colleagues in several different Finnish offices has made me look forward to being a working parent here.

For example, both parents are offered paid leave and they can decide when to use them in different amounts. Some companies pay full salaries for the first few months of parental leave, some pay half; it depends on the company. But it is typically clearly stated in the contract.

If your kid is sick and you need to leave work to care for them, that is not just accepted but encouraged. In many cases, this can be considered a sick day for the parent as well and can be paid leave.

At both of my previous corporate jobs, we had great health and leisure benefits. One of my favorite things was an app called Epassi where we had a yearly allowance to embrace different sports, culture, or wellness activities that were covered by work. 

With my benefits, I’ve bought a gym membership, passes to our local ski resort, movie tickets and massages. These types of benefits are really nice because you may not think of doing these things for yourself as often as you should.

With access to Finland’s healthcare system, I was able to visit a therapist, dentist and physical therapist for free when needed.

At one of my work places, we had a “recovery room” where an employee could book a session once a month as part of their working time to relax and unwind, with different wellness tools, like a therapeutic sonic bed or lymphatic boots.

This was one thing that was hard for me to get used to at first. Many people are happy with their positions and easily stay in the same role for years. 

I think this goes back to the Finnish philosophy of being satisfied with what you have, because it is enough. However, to be completely frank, I do crave growth and achievements. In Finnish corporate settings, there have been times when I felt like I had to reframe or tamp down my ambition. 

When I spoke with Finnish friends and family for advice about asking for a promotion, many of them were actually a bit shocked. They told me that people don’t typically ask for a promotion. Instead, they will wait until there’s a new opening at their company and apply then. 

One of the reasons why I work for myself now is because I wanted to explore what was possible for my ambition without any limitations or judgment. 

In Finland, the lack of hierarchy in corporate settings is an extension of the overall approach people take to it throughout the country. 

There’s a national joke that you could be casually sitting next to the President of Finland at a hockey game. The same is true in the workplace. No one is really all that special.

In some companies, you can have a coffee chat with the CEO of the company quite informally, just like you would with any team member. Whether you’re an intern or manager, everyone is respected and addressed by their first name. It’s rare to put much emphasis on job titles here.

Overall, I love the corporate culture in Finland. I feel like I’m not just defined by what I do at work, and like I have figured out a true sense of balance.

Jade Ventoniemi is an American who has called Finland home for the last five years. She is a former NCAA basketball player, a content creator and the founder of a marketing firm called Bright Soul Oy. Jade lives in Lahti, Finland, with her husband and their mini poodle. In her free time, she loves to be outdoors, and jumps at the chance to swim in a frozen lake or explore a local forest. You can follow her journey and life in Finland on Instagram or TikTok.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through Sept. 2, 2024.

Moses Lin says he’ll never consider going back to college, despite being one semester shy of graduating with a bachelor’s degree.

In 2011, Lin joined the U.S. Marine Corps and, after his enlistment ended in 2014, enrolled at Vanguard University of Southern California.

“I knew that if I went to college and took a traditional route, I’d be hundreds of thousands in debt,” he says. “I just didn’t want to start my life that way.”

Lin started a YouTube channel during college, where he posted acoustic covers of pop songs, and began teaching guitar lessons for money. By the spring of his senior year in 2017, he decided to quit school and give a full-time music career a shot.

Now, after years of building his own business as a traveling wedding guitarist and investing his earnings into real estate, Lin, 31, is on track to make $500,000 this year.

Lin says much of his success comes down to honing one important skill.

“I think learning how to learn is the most underrated skill,” Lin tells CNBC Make It. “As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned video editing, CSS coding [and] all these random talents.”

When it comes to “almost anything creative, I know how to teach myself that, and I know how to find the information, or find the experts to figure it out,” he continues.

Lin taught himself everything when it comes to building his business as a wedding guitarist. He charges between $6,000 and $15,000 for gigs, and couples cover travel expenses for himself and his team, which includes a sound engineer and production assistant.

He has also recently gotten into coaching to help other musicians grow their businesses. He charges $1,500 per hour-long session and has mentored clients in Ireland, Singapore, Dubai and across the U.S.

Another key to Lin’s success is setting ambitious goals and telling everyone about them.

When CNBC Make It spoke with him two years ago, he set a goal to have a net worth of $1 million by the time he was 30 — he reached that goal a few weeks shy of his 31st birthday.

“I’ve always been a fan of: make a crazy goal, tell everyone what your goal is, and then you have to make it,” he says.

Getting other people involved in your goal-setting builds a sense of accountability. Plus, since a lot of his work is referral-driven, repeating his goals out loud helps him get connected with people who can help make them happen.

“If you don’t set a goal, you’re just clocking in,” Lin says. “You’ll look back and think, ‘Oh, I think I did OK,’ but you have nothing to measure against.”

Lin currently has eight income properties in Little Rock, Arkansas, and nets $2,500 per month in rent. It’s not enough to live off of, but his goal with real estate is to increase his net worth over the long term.

“I spend less than I make, my net worth has appreciated with my portfolio and I’m happy doing what I want to do,” he says.

Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Sometimes, Brené Brown starts meetings by asking attendees a simple question: How are you feeling, in two words?

The more common, open-ended version of the icebreaker — “How’s everyone feeling?” — often elicits uninspiring answers, the bestselling author and leadership researcher told organizational psychologist Adam Grant and leadership expert Simon Sinek earlier this month on Sinek’s podcast, “A Bit of Optimism.”

The two-word version prompts honest answers and encourages people to see each other as humans first, co-workers second, said Brown. Common answers include “anxious” and “tired,” or someone describing their mentality as “vacation brain,” she added.

DON’T MISS: The ultimate guide to becoming a master communicator and public speaker

“Those check-ins in the beginning are kind of grace generators,” Brown said.

If someone says they’re anxious and overwhelmed during a meeting, for example, Brown said she’ll thank them for sharing before moving on to the next person. Then, after the meeting, she’ll inquire about how the person is doing.

Her favorite follow-up question, she said: “What does support from me look like today?”

The two-word exercise can capture feelings that might otherwise require a lengthier explanation, said Brown. In one recent case, an organization’s co-CEO — technically exceeding the word limit — stated “duct tape” and “glitter” in a meeting. 

Brown understood what that meant, she said: “We’re holding it together, but barely.”

It’s an effective strategy, Sinek added. The check-in helps people tell each other whether they’re feeling sharp or off their game that day, especially when the meeting’s leader sets a good example by sharing their own honest two-word assessment.

“You can’t get away with ‘fine,’” said Sinek.

Brown’s two-word exercise is reminiscent of a phrase that Juliette Han, a neuroscientist and adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Business School, says people with high emotional intelligence use in the workplace: “Let me know how you feel about it.”

Uttering that eight-word phrase can offer the other person a chance to share their thoughts — to whatever extent they feel comfortable, Han told CNBC Make It last month.

″[Emotionally intelligent people] appreciate the person’s right to recognize their emotions on their own terms and give them space to do so,” Han said. “At the same time, they offer their support and show they’re ready to listen to those thoughts and feelings whenever the other person is ready to share.”

Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC’s new online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking. We’ll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Get started today.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.