Do you have 12 minutes? No, scratch that. MAKE 12 minutes this week to watch my favorite TED Talk, The Happy Secret To Better Work. It’s not just my favorite, it’s one of the 20 most popular TED Talks, in fact. Shawn Achor, a Waco, Texas native, Harvard graduate, and happiness fanatic, will entertain you and educate you on why happiness is the key to your success. I’ve watched the Talk about 37 times this past year, and it made me hungry to know more!

You can find the video here.

I picked up a copy of Achor’s The Happiness Advantage; in it he explains the fallacy of the age old idea that if we are more successful, if we accomplish that goal, if we get the new job, THEN we’ll be happy. In the relatively new field of positive psychology, research shows that this is backward. You don’t become more happy once you achieve your goals, as you may have believed you would be. Happiness fuels success.

It’s really not backward when you think about it. Choosing a positive attitude allows you to see things in a better light, and it opens your mind to greater opportunities. It also makes you more attractive – now just go with me on this. If you are negative, pessimistic, grumpy even, do people want to be around you? If you are cheerful, you smile, and you say kind things, you’re someone I’d want to be around. Now, I prefer authenticity, which means it’s not all hearts and rainbows all the time! But largely, being positive draws people and opportunities to you. Hiring managers, think about it this way: Would you hire someone who frowned or was stoic during most of the interview or complained about his or her past workplace? Or would you give preference to the candidate who comfortably smiled and spoke of the hope for future employment with you, while answering your tough interview questions? Supervisors, do you find yourself spending more time speaking to those who drag you down with their lamentations? And who do you prefer to delegate those important projects to? The grumbling negative Nelly? Or the Susie Q who says, “Thank you for the opportunity to grow!” Logic follows that having a happy disposition gets you hired and accelerates growth and development opportunities, which can result in promotions and higher salaries. And there’s science to back that up.

Next time, we’ll delve more into Shawn Achor’s research on how happiness can bring you success. #choosehappiness

Written by:
Heather Harrison
Development Manager
governmentresource.com

This week we’ll wrap up Shawn Achor’s seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work in his book, The Happiness Advantage. Last week, we reviewed the first three. To catch up, read here.

Falling Up – Perhaps my favorite of the seven, this principle proves that resilience is paramount to happiness. No matter how many times you’re knocked down, getting up and what you make of it is what matters. There is a field of study of Post Traumatic Growth, proving the adage “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” In these studies, people report increased personal strength and self-confidence after facing a variety of personal traumas. Furthermore, successful people see opportunities to become better when they are faced with obstacles (Tweet This). Where do you fall on the optimist-pessimist spectrum?

The Zorro Circle – Limiting your focus to achievable yet increasingly more difficult goals over time can transform you into a legend, like Zorro. Really! No money back, guaranteed! I’d venture to say that one of the biggest issues many of us face is stress and anxiety about our workload, which seems to continue to increase, while resources and budgets either stay the same, or even shrink. Staying in control – or actually – thinking you have control – of what you can most definitely manage here and now, will have a directly positive result. Highly linked to emotional intelligence, this principle suggests that you take the time to write out your stresses, identifying what you have immediate control of, and then narrowing your focus on that one thing, then another (larger) thing, ever increasing to legen-wait for it-dary status. (don’t get the Barney Stinson reference? My apologies…)

The 20-Second Rule – We are creatures of habit. An interesting observation by Achor, “…if we had to make a conscious choice about every little thing we did all day, we would likely be overwhelmed by breakfast.” This principle is about choosing good habits over bad ones – and maintaining them. The kicker is, this takes work, largely because inactivity and staying the same is easier! So you must do the hard work. And sometimes the hard work takes only 20 seconds to lace up those running shoes, to fill up a glass of water instead of grabbing a bag of munchies, or in Achor’s case, simply walking to the closet where his guitar waited for him. So, even better than enduring those 20 seconds, find ways to make these good habits easier to choose. Achor bought a $2 guitar stand and set it up in the living room, instead of putting his guitar away in the closet after practicing, making his likelihood of practicing increase, therefore accomplishing his goal of playing daily. He also suggests that making your “bad” habits less convenient makes choosing the “good” habits easier. I love this, a reverse 20 second rule: He took the batteries out of his television remote, walked them 20 seconds away from his couch, and placed them in a drawer. What good habits can you make more convenient for yourself? Prepackaging healthy lunches and snacks for work? Sleeping in your gym clothes? Following this rule will add incredible value to your days and weeks, with a mere 20 second expense.

Social Investment – The final principle is potentially the most potent: relationships are our greatest asset. In the midst of crises, difficulties, challenges, stress, both at work and at home, “nothing is more crucial to our success than holding onto the people around us.” Unfortunately, many of us isolate ourselves when we feel stressed. Positive psychology studies show us that the more social support you have, the happier you are (Tweet This). And the happier you are, FIRST, the more successful you can be.

In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to #choosehappiness and explore how happiness affects employee engagement and workplace productivity. And in case you missed it the other night, please enjoy Pharrell Williams’ bizarre yet fun Grammy performance of “Happy!”

Written by:
Heather Harrison
Development Manager
governmentresource.com

If you’ll recall, we’ve been looking at how choosing happiness sets the stage for your success. This is contrary to traditional thinking, where for many years, we have believed that once we accomplish our goals, THEN we will be happy. Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, outlines the science behind the relatively new field of positive psychology. He also claims that through many research studies, we often sacrifice happiness in order to pursue success. This is completely the opposite of what we should do!

In Achor’s book, he identified seven “specific, actionable, and proven patterns that predict success and achievement.” Since sharing this information with Harvard and the world, these principles have helped tens of thousands of people retrain their brains, change habits, and become more productive and successful. Below are three of the seven.

The Happiness Advantage – Being happy just before tackling a project or a problem by taking a brief moment to gain a quick boost of positive emotion will increase dopamine and serotonin in our brains, even increase our vision, literally making us able to see the world better. Studies show that even receiving – not even eating – receiving a piece of candy can elicit happiness! It can truly be the small things at times. We’re all different in what triggers those happy emotions. If you’re like me, talking with a loved one, clearing the sink of dirty dishes, drinking a yummy cup of coffee, or doing a few pull-ups makes me happy. Specific things Achor lists that we can do: meditate, find something to look forward to, commit conscious acts of kindness, infuse positivity into your surroundings, exercise, spend money (but not on stuff), and exercise a signature strength (think character, not just skill). Remember, before making that call or sitting down to work on that presentation, get happy, first. You’ll be much more successful.

The Fulcrum and the Lever – This is all about your perspective. With the right mindset (fulcrum), you take the power (lever) to affect your actions as well as your reality. Basically, there’s truth to the Placebo Effect – which is that simply believing that you’ve taken a drug causes the symptom to disappear more than half of the time. Additionally, there is science behind what sounds like advice from your mom, “You can do ANYthing you set your mind to!” Our belief in our own abilities is a better predictor of job performance than the actual level of skill or training. Not only can you alter your future, you can influence the performance of others by expressing your faith in their ability. In case you haven’t heard me say this before, “I believe in you.”

The Tetris Effect – Named after a study where people were paid to play Tetris for several hours for 3 days, this principle claims that what you “train” your brain to see, it will look for those things. One test subject reported that he could see in his mind nothing but Tetris brick gaps in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, and how he could flip cereal boxes to fill those gaps following the test. Put in simple terms, our brains process patterns very efficiently, and if you focus on the negative over and over, it becomes a habit that is extremely difficult to break. One exercise proven to create a Positive Tetris Effect is to write down three good things that happened to you that day, for at least a week. This leads to an increased positive outlook on your environment, gratitude, and lasting happiness, even after the exercise is stopped.

Next week, we’ll finish looking at the last four of the seven principles. In the meantime, #choosehappiness!

As an aside: For those of you who enjoyed the Super Bowl commercials last night, I hope you spotted the positive psychology messages behind Coca Cola’s #MakeItHappy and McDonald’s “Pay with Lovin” campaigns?

Written by:
Heather Harrison
Development Manager
governmentresource.com

Do you have 12 minutes? No, scratch that. MAKE 12 minutes this week to watch my favorite TED Talk, The Happy Secret To Better Work. It’s not just my favorite, it’s one of the 20 most popular TED Talks, in fact. Shawn Achor, a Waco, Texas native, Harvard graduate, and happiness fanatic, will entertain you and educate you on why happiness is the key to your success. I’ve watched the Talk about 37 times this past year, and it made me hungry to know more!

You can find the video here.

I picked up a copy of Achor’s The Happiness Advantage; in it he explains the fallacy of the age old idea that if we are more successful, if we accomplish that goal, if we get the new job, THEN we’ll be happy. In the relatively new field of positive psychology, research shows that this is backward. You don’t become more happy once you achieve your goals, as you may have believed you would be. Happiness fuels success.

It’s really not backward when you think about it. Choosing a positive attitude allows you to see things in a better light, and it opens your mind to greater opportunities. It also makes you more attractive – now just go with me on this. If you are negative, pessimistic, grumpy even, do people want to be around you? If you are cheerful, you smile, and you say kind things, you’re someone I’d want to be around. Now, I prefer authenticity, which means it’s not all hearts and rainbows all the time! But largely, being positive draws people and opportunities to you. Hiring managers, think about it this way: Would you hire someone who frowned or was stoic during most of the interview or complained about his or her past workplace? Or would you give preference to the candidate who comfortably smiled and spoke of the hope for future employment with you, while answering your tough interview questions? Supervisors, do you find yourself spending more time speaking to those who drag you down with their lamentations? And who do you prefer to delegate those important projects to? The grumbling negative Nelly? Or the Susie Q who says, “Thank you for the opportunity to grow!” Logic follows that having a happy disposition gets you hired and accelerates growth and development opportunities, which can result in promotions and higher salaries. And there’s science to back that up.

Next time, we’ll delve more into Shawn Achor’s research on how happiness can bring you success. #choosehappiness

Written by:
Heather Harrison
Development Manager
governmentresource.com