Common wisdom holds that if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. Well, the newest twist is that chances are, you’ll also be asking a happy person to do it, too.

At least that is the news coming out of a study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Shanghai Jiatong University reported in Psychological Science, which found that being idle leads to less happiness.

Volunteers completed a study and were asked to wait 15 minutes before the next survey was ready. They could either choose to turn in their responses at a nearby location and have 15 minutes to kill or could walk further away to another location that would keep them busy for the lag time. Those who made use of their time by walking to the more remote location were found to be happier than those who sat twiddling their thumbs.

University of Chicago researcher Christopher Hsee says he believes that people prefer being busy, especially if they see themselves as productive in the process. He confesses he’s even assigned a research assistant a menial task when he doesn’t have more pressing work for them to do so his staff isn’t sitting around getting bored, restless or depressed.

“I know this is not particularly ethical, but he is happy,” admits Hsee.