Well, it all starts by having measurable units to work with. So for me that means:

• a scoop for scooping coffee
• a cheap food thermometer to check the temperature
• a watch to watch the seconds go by

Here’s how it goes.

First, measure the coffee and make a note of how much you put in. Now take the temperature of the water before you put the coffee in it. And then let the coffee brew for a specific amount of time.

Finally, drink the coffee.

If you do not like the coffee, repeat the above steps exactly as before – but change only one thing.

If you still do not like the coffee, repeat the above steps exactly as before - but again change only one thing. You can repeat this as many times as you like.

Eventually you will arrive at a coffee that you enjoy. When that happens you’ll probably find a smile on your face because you were able to create something that you like based on a strict process of changing one thing at a time – a quite scientific mode of operation. And the result: the thing you didn’t like before, now you like it. That’s nice.

But actually the happy thing is not that you were able to science your way to a smile. It’s that you were able to find your way when you were originally a little bit lost. And you did that by having some feeling or intuition for what to change, and perhaps even by how much. So the important thing isn’t that you were able to measure your way to happiness, it’s that you were able to feel your way out of an unpleasant place and have some happiness to measure (exactly one smile’s worth).