Great foundations for
everyday Happiness / 1

Use the Great Dream model to find the happiness you’re striving for

By Angela Civitella

Edited on December 7, 2020

In this two-part article, we explore the 10 elements that make up the GREAT DREAM model and explain how you can use it to bring more happiness to your own life.

The GREAT DREAM model helps you find the happiness you’re striving for by focusing on what you do, how you relate to others, and how you care for your body and mind. This first article introduces the GREAT part of the acronym – Giving, Relating, Exercising, Awareness, and Trying out – and explains how each can be woven into your daily life to support greater well-being at home and at work. The aim is not to chase a perfect state of happiness, but to build simple, repeatable habits that make your life feel more meaningful, balanced, and alive.

For many people, finding happiness is almost an obsession, and our quest to be happy seems to take up more and more of our time and energy.

The GREAT DREAM model is inspired by Vanessa King’s book 10 Keys to Happier Living, which highlights 10 key areas – from giving to connecting with others, as well as exercise, self-awareness, and finding meaning – that can transform both our personal and professional lives. This two-part article examines each element and explains how to use them to boost your well-being and support your long-term growth.

At its core, what is happiness, and how can we reach it? For many people, happiness has become an absolute obsession. Whether we’re reading self-help books, meditating, or enjoying playful perks at work, this pursuit of happiness is taking up more and more of our time and energy. According to the GREAT DREAM model, happiness is actually quite simple: it comes down to paying attention to a few crucial aspects of our lives so we can make them richer and more satisfying.

The GREAT DREAM Model for Happiness

In the book 10 Keys to Happier Living, psychologist Vanessa King and the nonprofit Action for Happiness present the GREAT DREAM model as a practical, evidence‑based framework for building a happier life. Drawing on research in psychology and neuroscience, the book turns ten well‑supported “keys” into everyday actions that can increase well‑being and resilience at home, in relationships, and at work.​

‘GREAT DREAM is positioned not just as a self‑help idea but as a guide that organizations, schools, and communities can use to foster happier, more engaged environments.’

GREAT DREAM is the acronym for these ten keys to happiness: Giving, Relating, Exercising, Awareness, Trying out, Direction, Resilience, Emotions, Acceptance, and Meaning – each of which is linked to studies showing consistent benefits for mental health and life satisfaction.

GREAT DREAM is an acronym for these 10 keys:

Giving: doing things for other people
Relating: connecting with the people around you
Exercising: looking after your body
Awareness: being mindful of the world around you
Trying out: being curious and open to new experiences
Direction: setting goals
Resilience: “bouncing back”
Emotions: being positive and emotionally intelligent
Acceptance: being comfortable with who you are
Meaning: connecting your work with a higher purpose

Several of the keys (such as Giving, Relating, and Trying out) are rooted in the widely cited Five Ways to Wellbeing, while others (like Direction, Resilience, and Meaning) address goal‑setting, coping with setbacks, and feeling part of something bigger than oneself.​

Because the model was explicitly developed to be used “at home, at work and in the world around you,” it is positioned not just as a self‑help idea but as a guide that organizations, schools, and communities can use to foster happier, more engaged environments. This focus on small, intentional actions in clearly defined areas is what makes 10 Keys to Happier Living a straightforward, practical handbook rather than a purely theoretical treatment of happiness.

Using the GREAT DREAM model

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using the GREAT DREAM model to raise your level of happiness.

G: Giving
Whether you’re donating money to good causes, sharing your expertise with a struggling colleague, or giving up your personal time for a corporate volunteering initiative, give.

But giving doesn’t just make others happy. It can make you happier, too. Research shows that doing things for others improves your own sense of well-being and positively affects your health. It can even make you live longer!

But it doesn’t stop there. Generosity fosters trust and can build stronger, more collaborative working relationships.

‘Research shows that doing things for others improves your own sense of wellbeing and has positive effects on your health.’

R: Relating
Good relationships are fundamental to our happiness and well-being. Both the quantity and the quality of our relationships matter, but of the two, quality is more important.

Developing your ability to listen actively and read body language will help you improve your connections with others and understand and respect what they say and how they feel. Sharing positive experiences at work is another important part of relationship-building. Organizing social events is a good way to do this, but proceed with caution: you don’t want this to start feeling like an obligation and engage in what is referred to as “compulsory happiness”.

E: Exercising
Staying physically active is good for you, period. Exercise reduces stress, helps you think more clearly, and raises your energy levels. Even just standing up and moving around the office more, and going outside for a lunchtime walk, can clear your mind and boost your physical fitness.

Look after your diet, too. Be sure to maintain a healthy balance of the main food groups and to limit your sugar intake. It’s also essential to get enough sleep: recent research links lack of sleep to a wide range of physical and mental problems.

‘Exercise reduces stress, helps you think more clearly, and raises your energy levels.’

A: Awareness
Being mindfully aware of the “here and now” can help you deal with stress-related problems. It enables you to be more creative and more sensitive to your own feelings, as well as other people’s. It can also foster a nonjudgmental frame of mind, which will help you to keep your relationships on a sound footing. The key to mindful awareness is to focus on the present and to notice the details of the world around you objectively.

T: Trying Out
Having the courage and the curiosity to seek new experiences and develop new skills, and to grasp the opportunities to do so, can be truly rewarding. It may help you to feel more in control of your life and work, which can raise your self-esteem.

Offering to work on unfamiliar or innovative projects at work, for example, can broaden your experience, build your expertise, and enhance your sense of mastery.

***

In this first part, the GREAT elements of the model show that happiness is less about chasing a distant ideal and more about what you give, how you connect, how you move, how you pay attention, and how willing you are to try new things day to day. By putting even one of these ideas into practice, you start to shift your experience of both life and work in a positive direction.

In the second part of this series, the DREAM side of the model – Direction, Resilience, Emotions, Acceptance, and Meaning – will take you further, helping you clarify where you’re going, bounce back from setbacks, and root your life in a deeper sense of purpose.

Image: Andrea Piacquadio – Pexels

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