The key to beating a midlife crisis? Don't worry about being happy

There's no need to splash out on a sportscar to cheer yourself up

Some buy a leather jacket; others buy a Ferrari and polish the blues away. But, according to academics at the London School of Economics (LSE), the most effective way of conquering the inevitable midlife crisis is to focus on what you already enjoy – and lay off the self-help manuals.
Professor Paul Dolan, a specialist in behavioural science at LSE, says there is currently too much emphasis placed upon traditional self-improvement methods, such as weight loss and career ambition, and too little on simple pleasures.
"Don't pay attention to how happy things make you," Dolan told The Observer. "Instead, find things which make you feel good, and do more of them. A long-term sustainable impact on your life can be achieved, but not by sitting about thinking if only I was slimmer, fitter, richer, then I would be happier. It's not going to happen, so you'll still be miserable."

David Brent didn't need a Sergio Georgini jacket to perk himself up Credit: BBC

Instead of being disappointed by unattainable goals, then, Dolan's advice for avoiding a slump is to appreciate what makes you happy – be that listening to music, meeting new people, spending time outdoors – and placing a greater emphasis on those things.
Various studies have suggested men experience a 'U shape' of happiness over the course of their lives: that the carefree joy of youth is slowly diminished by increased stress and responsibility in middle age, only to return during retirement. The theory was reaffirmed last week, when a survey concluded that misery hits a peak between the ages of 50 and 54, while happiness doesn't return until beyond retirement age.

Experts now say that focusing on what makes you happy, such as listening to music, is better than self-improvement Credit: Alamy

That concept has been endlessly disputed, however. As recently as last month a study published in the journal Developmental Psychology attempted to quash the notion of a midlife crisis entirely, instead finding that people are happier in their forties than they are in their late teens.
"I do think that mid-life crisis is a myth," said Nancy Galambos, a professor of psychology and co-author of the study, Up, Not Down: The Age Curve in Happiness from Early Adulthood to Midlife in Two Longitudinal Studies. "The results question the myth [showing] there can be a crisis at any time in life, and it is not confined to any particular age period."

Despite being an author himself, Dolan believes self-helf books do little good Credit: Alamy

While Dolan stops short of denouncing the problem entirely, he does have one trend-bucking idea: ditch the self-help books. They may be a multi-million pound industry, but consuming cliché-filled guides can do more harm than good, Dolan says.
"It's an explosive genre because they explain how you could feel but not how to achieve that," says Dolan, who himself has written the bestselling Happiness By Design. "They don't work, they merely encourage people to go and buy another self-help book."
"We are all searching for fun and fulfilment and we all too often get the balance wrong."