Do you want to be perfect? Or do you want to be happy?

We’re all laboring under our own and society’s expectations to be perfect in every way—to look younger, to make more money, to be happy all the time. But according to Tal Ben-Shahar, the New York Times bestselling author of Happier, the pursuit of perfect may actually be the number-one internal obstacle to finding happiness.

Applying cutting-edge research in the field of positive psychology—the scientific principles taught in his wildly popular course at Harvard University—Ben-Shahar takes us off the impossible pursuit of perfection and directs us to happiness, richness, and true fulfillment. He shows us the freedom derived from not trying to do it all right all the time and the real lessons that failure and painful emotions can teach us. He provides exercises for self reflection, meditations, and “Time-Ins” to help you rediscover what you really want out of life.

Table of contents

Introduction: The Perfect Trap

Chapter 1: Benevolent Jealousy

Chapter 2: The Upside of Anxiety

Chapter 3: Ordinary Expectations

Chapter 4: Don’t Just Get Over It

Chapter 5: Understanding the Unknowable

Chapter 6: Succeeding at Failing

Chapter 7: Permission to Feel

Chapter 8: The Law of Identity

Chapter 9: The Platinum Rule

Conclusion