We all want to crack the code right?  Just tell me what to do - that’s all I need to know.  When happiness expert Shawn Achor says he has the formula and he knows why we are getting it all wrong.  Listen in to find out how to achieve more happiness.   

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2-ish minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and Shawn Achor, a researcher, a world renowned happiness expert and New York Times best selling author says he has the formula for happiness, and what we’re likely doing, as a human race, is getting it completely backwards.  

Most people think the formula is that if you work hard, you will be successful and when you are successful, you will be happy.  Shawn Achor who has been to over 50 countries and studied happiness around the world says, we’ve got it all wrong.   He says this is scientifically backwards.

First, everytime your brain has success, you just change the goal post to something bigger.  You get good grades, now you have to get better grades.  You have 10,000 followers on Instagram, now you want 20,000.  We just keep moving the goalpost. And if happiness is on the other side of this goal, we’re always chasing it and never experiencing it.  Our brains never get there.  

Our brains actually work in the opposite order.  If we can raise our optimism, our positivity,  in the present, then our brains can enjoy what Shawn calls the happiness advantage.  

The happiness advantage is simple.  It is the theory that your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed.  The research finds that at positive, your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise.  

Achor’s findings indicate that our brains at positive are 31% more productive than if they are at negative, neutral or stressed.  You are 37% better at sales.  Doctors are 19% faster and more accurate in coming up with the correct diagnosis when their brains are positive.   

In fact, the research done by Sonjya Lyubomirsky found that at positive, people would enjoy better secure jobs, superior productivity, more resiliency, less burnout, less turnover, greater sales.   

So what this research says is that we can reverse the formula and if we can find a way to become positive in the present, then our brains can work with us, for us, to work more successfully. 

Tomorrow we are going to talk about why our brains end up in negative loops and why it’s so darn hard for some people to flip the script.  It’s easy to say “be more positive” but those are just words.   We’ll explore this more tomorrow. 

Inspired By:  The happy secret to better work | Shawn Achor

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