Do money and success bring happiness?
Hank has said since 2012 that happiness has little to do with money and that 'success' is made up; in 2024 he added that money, while it doesn't make you happy, solves problems that stand in the way. John says there is never enough money or fame, recalls a panic attack at the height of his fame, and in 2023 decided to retire from work done for money he didn't need.
Axis: yes, they make life better ... no, we adapt and the dream disappoints
Positions by date: 25 records in 25 videos. The position did not change in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-09-07 | first on record | John says there will never be enough money, fame and love, because every time we get what we wanted we want more; what we really want is a pure golden past. | The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes 00:05:23 |
| 2018-11-20 | restate | When Turtles All the Way Down hit 52 consecutive weeks on the NYT bestseller list, John felt happy briefly, then anxious again; weeks later a quiet champagne toast with Sarah brought overwhelming joy and gratitude. | Cause for Celebration 00:01:56 |
| 2019-12-17 | restate | In a comment John notes that his best days were not career events like the TFIOS movie release but time spent with people he has long been lucky to love. | The Best Days of My Decade |
| 2021-11-02 | restate | John says even those who have enough often feel they don't: more security, power or money always seems to stand between them and true enoughness. | enough 00:00:44 |
| 2023-10-17 | restate | John feels he worked himself into the misery of labyrinthitis for money and fame he didn't need and that wouldn't make his life better, so he decided to retire. | My Next Book 00:00:58 |
| 2024-04-30 | restate | John says the last couple of months have been a weird mix of being overjoyed and not doing that great. | Not Doing That Great 00:03:53 |
| 2024-10-01 | restate | John's least favourite photo of himself is from the Paper Towns film premiere: on top of the world, rich and very famous, he was in the middle of a panic attack. | On Fame and Chappell Roan 00:00:12 |
| 2024-11-05 | restate | John says he has enough money, and once you have enough there is no reason to have more; Smaug sitting on his gold in The Hobbit is not the good guy. | Why Do I Still Make YouTube Videos? 00:00:58 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-06-18 (said on 2010-06-19, implied) | first on record | Hank: every game is lost, whether fame, money or even good causes; thinking you'll only be happy when you win is the surest way never to be happy, so choose the right game and don't care if you lose. | You just lost THE GAME! 00:02:54 |
| 2011-05-16 | restate | Hank holds that success defined wrongly is never found or comes at the expense of loved ones; life is not about having the most toys. | Grab It By The Testicle 00:01:58 |
| 2012-08-04 | restate | Hank: the amount of happiness we have has very little to do with the amount of money we have. | EXTRA! Thoughts from Tour 00:02:45 |
| 2015-02-06 | restate | Hank says none of his milestones made him perpetually satisfied; success is made up, and 'you get successes, but you don't get success'. | You Will Be Forgotten ...And That's OK 00:02:00 |
| 2015-07-03 | restate | Hank says real happiness comes not from being the biggest fish but from being personally secure; money matters to it, but not entirely. | Thoughts from Yachts 00:02:50 |
| 2015-11-19 | restate | Hank holds that success is not needed for happiness: he was happy before he was successful and does not need societal success to feel valued; he knows successes, not 'success'. | Is Success a Bad Idea? (Pizzamas Day 9 of 10) 00:01:41 |
| 2016-06-03 | restate | Hank says fame and money, culture's common surrogates for making a difference, are bad metrics because they are always scarce and relative. | Redefining What it Means to Matter 00:01:34 |
| 2016-08-03 | restate | Hank holds that what makes life special is not big events or achievements but the people you love and who love you; the best lives are made of love. | Lives Made of Love - Esther Day 2016 00:01:40 |
| 2016-09-02 | restate | Hank says research continually indicates happiness is not about what we have but about what we do with the minutes, hours and days of our lives. | One Scientifically Proven Thing Actually Makes People Happier 00:02:39 |
| 2017-05-26 | restate | Hank says society asks us to base self-worth on careers, which makes happiness hard; you don't need a world-changing, green, fulfilling job using your diploma, you need to feel valuable. | Some Rough Advice for the "Real World" 00:02:09 |
| 2017-12-08 | restate | Asked how to know you have succeeded, Hank says you never know: you succeed at individual events but failure is always around the corner, so find things that sustain you. | I Have (a little bit) HAD IT! 00:03:32 |
| 2019-01-11 | restate | Hank sees creative workers once joyful lose their fuel because brains aren't excited by the same input repeatedly: the 20th million-view video feels less good, for the same work and audience expectation. | What is Burnout? 00:01:59 |
| 2020-06-05 | restate | Hank says helping people, such as pointing attention to great people, is the best part of being successful. | So Much to Do 00:18:13 |
| 2023-12-01 | restate | After selling VidCon and a successful book, Hank realized he didn't enjoy a much more expensive lifestyle and didn't need money. | It's OK if you think less of me after this! 00:02:07 |
| 2024-10-02 | restate | Hank's answer to what success is if not achieving dreams: life is a string of summits that are simply solutions to problems, for himself and for others, so there is always an answer to what the point is. | What I learned from the weirdest day of my life 00:03:24 |
| 2024-11-03 | restate | Hank says money is really good: it doesn't make you happy, but it solves a lot of problems, and fewer problems raise the potential for happiness. | Hank's very messy post-cancer year of mistakes, meaning… 00:03:27 |
| 2025-11-28 | restate | Hank says the QI experience was much more complex than that first dream: it did not feel exactly the way he thought it would. | Three Things! (Wait, no, actually four...) 00:06:09 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).