Let's pretend for a moment that you are a giraffe. You live on the grasslands of the African savannah. You have a neck that is 2.1m long. Every now and then, you spot a group of humans driving around on a safari taking pictures of you.

Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. I would love to be happier -- as I'm sure most people would -- so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are 10 of the best ones I found.

It's an annual tradition for parents all across the country. The Christmas holidays start to wind down. They get a letter from school about their student's enrolment. They start seeing hints of "back to school" at the store. The kids are dressed in clothes that are almost too small and worn from a summer of play. It's time to start thinking about going back to school.

Whether you've been interviewed over one million times or can count on one hand how many times you've been face-to-face with a hiring manager, the process is always stressful. Not only are you trying your hardest to present the very best version of yourself, you're also attempting to read your audience and gather as much information as you can about the role, the company culture and the organisation itself. No pressure.

In some ways, clicking the "submit" button and applying for a job is cathartic. You've put in a lot of hard work to spruce up your resume and cover letter, and frankly, you're kind of over the whole thing. The problem is that for many people, only a few minutes go by before they start thinking about all the things they might've done wrong.

Running injuries are the worst. They sap your motivation and force you to sit on the sidelines, watching your hard-earned fitness go down the drain. If you're anything like me, you've had your share of running injuries that put a quick end to your running goals.

It's common to feel tired after a long day at work or to need a holiday after a month-long sprint to finish a new feature. But sadly it's also common to feel tired all the time. To lack enthusiasm about your work. To feel cynical and disengaged from what you do.

I tend to view a good life as being one that's full of good investments. If you use your resources (money, time, energy, etc.) in a smart way, they're going to give far more value back to you in return.

While it's true you can never be completely sure about how well you'll adjust to working with a new boss, company or team until you've actually started working, asking probing and strategic questions during the interview process is one of the easiest ways to gather useful intel about potential opportunities.

How many things are vying for your attention right now? Your phone? Email? Slack? Twitter? That nagging to-do list that just seems to keep growing? Modern technology has given us so many amazing things, but one of the awkward side effects has always been its ability to get in our face whether we want it to or not.

It's never too early to start thinking about your travels, particularly if you want to enjoy the beauty of the world on a nice, tidy budget. One of the best ways to do that is to camp and, at the same time, take advantage of your national park system.

If you're shopping for a new pair of eyeglasses, you may get sticker shock when you pick up a pair of frames at your local optician. It certainly doesn't help that vision insurance doesn't always cover glasses -- and when it does, it may not cover the whole cost. Another option is to take your shopping to the internet, where you'll find a better selection and lower prices.

How can modern parents raise the next generation to be free from corrosive gender and racial stereotypes? By the time children start primary school, gender and race shape their lives in many ways that parents might want to prevent. As early as Year 1, girls are less likely than boys to think members of their own gender are "really, really smart". And by just age three, white children in the United States implicitly endorse stereotypes that African-American faces are angrier than white faces.

When I was a recruiter, I was asked a lot of smart questions that made me say, "Wow, this candidate is on top of her game." But I also heard a lot that made me wonder who the person had taken interview advice from -- or if that person had ever sought out help at all.

One of the most powerful concepts I've ever come across in my years of studying and thinking about personal finance issues is the concept of the "future self". "Future self" is pretty much exactly what you think it is: It's you at some point in the future. It's not an optimistic version of your future or a pessimistic version of where you're headed, but instead it's as realistic as you can possibly make it.

I spend most of my day on a computer. When I'm not working I spend my spare time programming or blogging. When I take a break I spend it looking at my phone. One of the problems with all this time spent looking at screens is the amount of digital clutter these habits have created in my life.

Travelling alone has its perks: You get to do what you want, when you want; discover new and honest things about the world and yourself; and enjoy an uplifting, mindful travelling experience without someone else's influences. But after a while, talking to yourself and eating another meal without being able to share funny thoughts and observations about the day with an another human get... awfully lonesome.

I had a great lunch today with an old friend of mine. We used to work together and he was a couple of decades older than I was, so today he's actually starting to see retirement on the short term horizon. He was interested in what my life was like as a self-employed person who made a living on a mix of side gigs and contracts, and I shared some of my thoughts on that, but when we got down to the real meat of the conversation, it seemed like he was mostly trying to figure out what the next stage of his life is going to look like.

One common strategy for saving money on food that shows up in a lot of frugality books and on many frugality websites is the idea of a "meal prep day," sometimes simply called "meal prep Sunday" because people often use a Sunday to do it.