How to be happy with enough in 3 steps

1. Take a ‘fika break’

For generations, Swedish workers have understood the importance of factoring fika into their working day. Fika is the Swedish coffee break, both mid-morning and early afternoon. Brones says, ‘It’s a moment to take a step away from work, socialise and be present.’

Even if you are not in a workplace, take a fika break on your own, getting away from the computer for a few minutes, while you drink your coffee or tea.

2. Embrace being ‘good enough’

Learning this way of being is inherent in lagom; it is about understanding the cost of our decisions and being happy with that. For example, do we want to be freelance and have financial insecurity but creative freedom? Or do we want a traditional job and fewer money worries but less flexibility?

Being good enough isn’t about being the best, it’s about identifying our strengths and desires, and allowing ourselves to be satisfied with the outcome.

3. Learn how to mend

We live in an age when we buy cheap clothes, and then discard them – the antithesis of how our grandparents lived. The lagom way is to buy quality first-time around, second-hand where you can, and to repair things when they become worn or broken.

Brones says, ‘There is a small mending revival, encouraging people to fix their worn clothes, instead of dumping them.’

‘Live Lagom’ by Anna Brones (Ebury Press, £9.99)

Photograph: iStock