On Failure and Happiness

Randomly, I've been re-reading Geography of Bliss this week: a visiting cousin happened to leave his copy behind, which was a stroke of good luck, since my copy is currently 5000 miles away. I flipped the book open and found myself reading about Iceland, and specifically, what makes Icelandic people, on average, amongst the happiest in the world*:

"Having multiple identities (though not multiple personalities) is, [according to one Iceland resident] conducive to happiness. This runs counter to the prevailing belief in the United States and other western nations, where specialization is considered the highest good. Academics, doctors, and other professionals spend lifetimes learning more and more about less and less. In Iceland, people learn more and more about more and more."

And, by way of explaining how multiple identities are able to be cultivated:

"It's because of failure," says Larus, pushing his glasses against the bridge of his nose.
"Failure?"
"Yes, failure doesn't carry a stigma in Iceland. In fact, in a way, we admire failures."

This all intuitively makes sense to me. As an oversimplification:

If you're not worried about failing, you're more likely to try new things, which is likely to cause happiness.

(* Caveat: At least, according to Ruut Veenhoven and Eric Weiner. As pointed out by friends at brunch, there are too many unanswered questions/concerns about the methodology to rely too heavily on its accuracy. And who knows if Icelanders *are* happy? They seem to be having their own share of troubles these days.)