I’ve virtually attended the World Happiness Summit (WOHASU) for the past couple of years, and each time I walk away with a notebook full of insights and a spark of inspiration. This year, while watching one of the sessions, I had a moment of recognition. The speaker was Dr. Cassie Holmes—and I’d read her book. In fact, I loved her book.

Dr. Holmes, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, is the author of Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. Her work focuses on how the way we spend our time shapes our happiness and overall well-being. Her ideas are rooted in research, but they’re presented in a way that feels refreshingly doable—even for those of us with packed schedules and mile-long to-do lists.

Hearing her speak at WOHASU last month brought the book’s key ideas back into focus. If you missed her talk, you can catch the replay here: Watch Dr. Cassie Holmes at WOHASU 2025. And if you’re curious about what the book offers—or how some of her ideas intersected with my own reflections over the past year—read on.

Time Is the Currency of Happiness

In Happier Hour, Holmes makes a compelling case for treating time as our most precious resource—not something to spend mindlessly, but something to invest with intention. One of her standout ideas is time affluence, the feeling that you have enough time. It turns out, this feeling isn’t just about the actual number of hours in your day—it’s about how you perceive and experience those hours.

One exercise she recommends is to track how you spend your time over the course of a week, paying attention to what actually feels good and what doesn’t. I’ve done similar time-tracking exercises before, but what I appreciated about Holmes’ approach is that it’s not about maximizing productivity. It’s about maximizing joy and meaning. When you see how you’re really spending your hours—and which ones leave you feeling energized versus drained—it becomes easier to make small shifts toward a more fulfilling life.

The Eulogy Prompt (and a Reframe)

During her WOHASU 2025 presentation, Holmes shared a thought-provoking exercise: imagine your own eulogy. What would you want people to say about you? What would you hope they remember?

It’s a powerful reflection—but one I had already encountered months earlier, in a much more personal setting. Back in September, shortly after my mother-in-law’s funeral, I participated in a workshop called Beauty in Ambiguity. The same prompt was presented there: imagine your eulogy.

At the time, the emotional weight of the funeral was still fresh, and the exercise felt heavy—too final. I remember feeling like it was a bit at odds with the purpose of the workshop, which was about embracing openness and possibility. A eulogy, after all, is about closure.

So I reimagined the prompt in a way that felt more hopeful.

Instead of picturing my funeral, I pictured a celebration. A banquet. An award ceremony. What would I want to be honored for? What would people say as they introduced me, not to memorialize, but to celebrate? Would it be about my job title or accomplishments—or something deeper, like the way I made people feel, the ideas I shared, or the small creative sparks I left behind?

That reframing turned the exercise from something somber into something inspiring. It became a mirror reflecting back what I value most—and what I want to make more time for now.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

What I love most about Happier Hour is that Holmes doesn’t ask you to blow up your life and start over. Instead, she invites you to become more intentional with the time you already have. In her WOHASU talk, she emphasized that we can’t eliminate all the draining moments in our lives, but we can increase the amount of time we spend doing things that genuinely matter to us.

Whether that means carving out space for a creative project, slowing down long enough to enjoy a real lunch break, or just being more present during your kid’s bedtime routine—it all adds up.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been feeling like time is slipping through your fingers—or like your days are packed but strangely empty—Happier Hour might be exactly what you need. It’s part research, part reflection, part reminder to reclaim joy in the small moments.

And if the idea of a eulogy prompt feels a little too heavy right now, try flipping it. Imagine the award you’d want to receive. Imagine the words you’d love to hear in your honor. That small mental shift might just show you where to invest your most valuable resource: your time.

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✨ Have you read Happier Hour or watched Dr. Holmes’ talk at this year’s World Happiness Summit? I’d love to hear your takeaways—or what you’d want to be celebrated for! Share in the comments or join the conversation on social.