Book of the Week: The Happiness Advantage
01 Oct 2014
This week I read The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor who goes around the world teaching people how to be happy. It is not success that leads to happiness, but happiness that leads to success. To be more successful, we should strive to be happier first. There is a lot in the book, so I’ll only point out things I found interesting. The Seven Principles
- The Happiness Advantage - happiness makes you do better
- The Fulcrum and the Lever - changing mindset can change your reality
- The Tetris Effect - training the brain to be positive
- Falling Up - use setbacks to reach higher
- The Zorro Circle - start with small manageable goals to expand
- The 20-second Rule - minimize barriers to change
- Social Investment - social support is greatest asset
Happiness What is happiness? Scientist define happiness as pleasure combined with deeper feelings of meaning and purpose. Previously most of the scientific studies have been on negative emotions like depression, but thankfully more people are studying happiness now. Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness book is about how he implemented positive psychology at Zappos. The is a lot of interest, because it works. Happiness Tasks In order to take advantage of happiness, we need a way to get happier. Here are some things you can do to increase your happiness as supported by scientific research.
- Meditate
- Find Something to Look Forward To
- Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness
- Infuse Positivity Into Your Surroundings
- Exercise
- Spend Money (But Not on Stuff)
- Exercise a Signature Strength
Losada Line
This phenomenon is called the Pygmalion Effect: when our belief in another person’s potential brings that potential to life.
It’s good to be happy yourself, but there are repercussions of how you interact with other people too. The Losada Line (2.9013) is the ratio of positive to negative interactions needed to make a team successful. Teams need at least 3 to 1, but ideally we should strive for 6 to 1. If you have happy interactions with people, then happiness will spread like a sexually transmitted infection or Ebola. The placebo effect is a powerful thing. If we are primed to believe in something, we react as if it is true. We must structure our beliefs and interactions in a positive way to realize better outcomes. Nobody wants to work with or buy stuff from a sad, depressed person. Practice This all seems nice, but what is one small thing that someone can start with? Write three things you are grateful for each day.
- I’m healthy enough to run a marathon.
- I set aside time to read this book.
- I get to have wood fire pizza with my ex-roommate tonight.