Daniel Kahneman, Nobel laureate in Economics and founder of behavioral economics tells us that happiness comes in two forms: the one coming from the experiencing self (as we do things), the one through the remembering self (as we remember how we did things).

Here’s a simple experience that demonstrates the difference: 2 patient undergoing a colonoscopy reported their pain level every minute. Resulting graphs:

The total amount of pain experienced by patient #2 is clearly higher than for patient #1. Same amplitude, and a longer duration.

But asked about the procedure a month later, patient #2 will recall a lower pain than patient #1.

Why is that?

While patient #2 pain lasted longer, after pain peaked (like for patient #1), pain slowly went down to almost nothing.

Simply said, our remembering self mainly keeps memory of past events as how they ended.

With this knowledge in hands, here are some opportunities to leave a positive long lasting effect within the business:

• Retrospectives: end them with accolades: “I really appreciated that.”, “thank you for…”
• Employee feedback sessions: attack difficult topics in the middle, and end them with opportunities and achievements
• Production emergency midnight oil burners: when all over, bring some pizza and beer
• Board meeting: follow the not-so-good sales revenue with smaller problems

Where else can pain management be leveraged to minimize business challenges and provide better memories?