The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work

This is the kind of book all of us can benefit from. After all, how many times have you worked hard for recognition or a promotion, only to realize that once you got there, it wasn't enough? You couldn't be happy because now the goal post was set even higher. This kind of cycle is not only incredibly common today, but it's also exhausting and unfulfilling.

But think about this. Think about a time when you were really happy about your life and work. You walked in every day with a feeling of excitement and opportunity. Your mind and heart were open to new people and new ideas. You couldn't wait to tackle the next challenge, right?

When we're truly happy, our productivity, and the quality of our work, goes through the roof. We see opportunities instead of roadblocks. We come up with great ideas, we're open to meeting new people, and we push ourselves to new heights – not because we expect a reward in the end, but because we want to.

People like this tend to succeed no matter what field they're in. Companies want these people because they show up motivated and ready to conquer the world. So learning how to be happy will not only improve the quality of your life, but it's also going to make you more valuable to your organization, and increase your chances of success.

Too many people sacrifice happiness for success. But "The Happiness Advantage" shows us how we can have both, as long as we pursue them in the right order.

The author, Shawn Achor, is considered one of the world's leading experts on human potential. He's researched and lectured in 42 countries, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN and other leading news media.

So, keep listening to find out some easy ways to inject happiness into your day, how to transform time-wasting tasks into more meaningful activities, and how to become more self-aware, so you can quickly recover from stressful events.

"The Happiness Advantage" is divided into three parts. Part one explains the research behind positive psychology, and why spending time focusing on how to be happy, instead of not being unhappy, can transform our lives and work.

Part two devotes a chapter to each of the author's seven principles of happiness. Here, we learn strategies we can use in our life to help make our attitude more positive and optimistic.

The last part covers the ripple effect of happiness. That is, how we can spread happiness to the people we work and live with.

The author spends the first chapter explaining why he decided to devote his career to studying happiness.

While he was studying, and then teaching, at Harvard University, he began to see that most students were really unhappy. Here they were, at one of the most prestigious schools in the world, about to step into a world of opportunity, but four out of five of them were depressed.

But what about those few students who were not only managing the stress and workload of a top-tier university, but thriving? What set them apart? It was that very question that drove the author into the field of positive psychology.

The author quotes several studies in this chapter, all of which prove the same point. When we're happy and optimistic, our brain functions better. We're more creative. We outsell our competition by almost 60 percent. Doctors that are happy diagnose patients with twenty percent more accuracy.

After studying and interviewing over 1,100 Harvard students, and studying research from other scientists, the author came up with seven specific patterns that may be seen to predict success. For instance, take The Tetris Effect. This strategy shows us how to retrain our brain to stop focusing on stress and negativity, and instead focus on possibility, so we can see the next opportunity.

These seven principles are what make up the rest of the book.

By the time you're done with this first chapter you'll be convinced that learning how to be happy is not only worthwhile, but essential for the rest of your life. The statistics and the quality of the research quoted here are compelling, and set a solid foundation for what's to come.

Part two is where you'll find the meat of the book. Here we get to read about each of the seven principles of happiness, and learn how we can start using them to transform our life and work.

The author brings up a theory scientists have called the Broaden and Build Theory. The idea is how we're feeling emotionally will directly affect how well we think.

In one experiment, scientists primed some volunteers to be happy – helping them evoke positive thoughts – while another group was made to feel negative. Those volunteers who were primed for happiness went on to think a wider array of thoughts and ideas than the group that was primed to feel negative.

The point is that when we're feeling some kind of positive emotion, even if it's just contentment, we're better able to think creatively. We have better ideas. And we're more open to possibility.

When we're happy, our brains are flooded with dopamine and serotonin. These chemicals physically help us learn and think better.

So what can we do to prime ourselves for happiness? The author came up with a useful list of ways we can inject small bursts of happiness into our day, even when we're at work. Even little acts of positivity can make a huge difference in our mood and mindset.

For instance, we can perform a random act of kindness for someone. Meditate at our desk for five minutes. Watch a cartoon on YouTube. These acts may sound downright silly in a work setting. But again, science has proven even the smallest jolts of happiness can reorient us to a more positive and productive mindset.

Now, you might think it's not appropriate to watch YouTube videos at work, and the author addresses this in chapter four. He says managers often scold employees who take time to watch a funny video online, or tell jokes to co-workers in the hallways. But he argues that these small positive acts can make a huge difference to your organization's bottom line, and he offers some great ideas leaders can use to bring more positivity to their team.

One chapter we particularly enjoyed was the Fulcrum and the Leaver. Here, we learn how to change our mindset, so we can start viewing the world with optimism and hope.

The author brings up a fascinating, well-sourced study which proves just how powerful our mindset is. Japanese researchers blindfolded a group of students and told them their arms were being rubbed with poison ivy plants. Afterward, every one of the students' arms broke out with the classic poison ivy symptoms, itching, boils and redness.

But there wasn't any poison ivy. The plant used was a harmless shrub. But the students believed they were being infected with poison ivy, and their bodies reacted.

Even more fascinating is this. On the students' other arm, the researchers rubbed actual poison ivy, but told them it was a harmless plant. Even though every single student was highly allergic, only two of them broke out.

This study, along with several others the author quotes, shows just how powerful our belief is. And, we get some really useful ideas for translating this into our work life.

For instance, the more you think of a certain task as drudgery, or a waste of time, the more it's going to be just that. You believe it's a waste of time, and so it is.

You can transform that task simply by looking at things in a different way. What are you learning from that task? How can you do it better? How is that task enriching the life of someone else?

Although every single chapter in this book was fascinating, it's worth highlighting the one for principle number five, called The Zorro Circle.

The concept behind this principle is fairly simple, but far reaching in its implications. If we want to accomplish some big goals in our life, we first have to start small. Really small. Of course, this is the basic goal-setting formula we promote here at the Club. But the science and stories in this chapter illustrate really well why starting small works.

The author says many people feel their life is out of control. Enormous workloads and stress can make us feel we can't keep up. But when we focus our efforts on small, manageable goals, we get back that feeling of control which is so important for excellent performance. This then gives us the strength and ability to expand outwards to accomplish even more.

As with all the chapters, we get some fascinating science that explains why we think the way we do, and why having control is so important to our well being. And the author also offers up plenty of strategies we can use.

He suggests that if we want to regain control, we have to first start with self-awareness. This is the first circle we're going to master. Studies have shown that when people are under extreme stress, the first to recover are those who can identify how they're feeling and why. This lessens the power of those emotions, so we can think rationally.

You can start by keeping a journal on your desk. When you start to feel stressed, take a minute to write down why you're feeling helpless or out of control. Or, you can talk to a trusted co-worker. The more you verbalize your feelings, the more you can sort them out.

The next circle we need to learn how to control is our situations. No matter what situation we're in, whether it's good or bad, there are some parts we can control and some parts we can't.

Take out a piece of paper and write down all your stresses and daily challenges. Then, divide them into two groups. One group should be the things you can control. The other group is the things you can't.

The group of challenges and stresses you can control is important because efforts you make here are going to pay off. And what about the group you can't control? Just let it go.

Now that you know what you can control, identify one small goal related to this group you can accomplish. Doing this narrows your focus. You can make a difference here. Once you've accomplished that goal, keep moving forward by setting another, slightly larger goal.

The author relates some great real-life stories that show how much this can lower your stress and improve the quality of the work you're doing.

He tells one story of a client who, thanks to an all-consuming project, had over 1,400 emails in his inbox that needed attention. His stress was intense every time he thought about it.

The author instructed him to start small. So, in the first week he was only going to answer and respond to new emails that came in. After he felt in control, he had to go back and tackle one day's worth of back emails at a time. And, he could only devote one hour per day to this task.

Three weeks later, his inbox only had five emails in it, and he'd also found time and motivation to organize his cluttered office.

By starting with a very small, manageable goal and working outward you give yourself the energy and feeling of control you need to keep moving.

So, what's our last word on "The Happiness Advantage"?

We think this is a book that can transform the way we live and work. The insights in here are truly eye-opening. If you only apply a few of the principles you learn in this book, you'll be a happier person. Applying several or all could change your life.

This book is particularly useful for leaders. The author did a great job adding strategies that managers can use with their teams, and you get to see just what a dramatic impact happiness can have on your organization's bottom line.

There's been a flood of books about happiness lately. So what's great about this one?

Well, if you've read a few of those other books, you might find that many of the tips in this one aren't new. But the author's insight into the how and why of happiness is refreshing, and the science he sources throughout the book is simply fascinating.

This is not a dry book about how to be happy. And the author points out that happiness and success should be completely defined by us. Not all of us want to be millionaire CEOs, or jet-setting executives. When you're happy, you're better able to define what you want and how you're going to get there.

So, whether your goal is to live a quiet life doing work you love, or to run your own company, your happiness will help you achieve it.

All in all, "The Happiness Advantage" is a highly enjoyable read, and you'll probably catch yourself retelling some of these stories at your next meeting or dinner party.

"The Happiness Advantage," by Shawn Achor, is published by Crown Business.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Click here to buy the book from Amazon. Thanks for listening.