Video Review: The happy secret to better work

Summary of Shawn Achors's: The happy secret to better work

Shawn Achor talked about positive psychology and how normal is merely average. Positive psychology posits that if we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average.

He used this graph as an example, to show that what some of us do is we want to get rid of those who are not the average. Instead of removing these outliers, why not study them? Instead of moving these people to average, we should move the entire average up in our companies and schools worldwide.

He also mentioned that what we are finding is not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which our brain views the world that shapes our reality. If we can CHANGE the lens, not only can we change happiness but we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time.

We think that our external world is the prediction of our happiness levels but 90% of our long-term happiness is predicted by how our brain processes the world. If we can change our formula for happiness and success, we can change the way that we can then affect reality.

Reversing the formula for happiness and success: ( absence of disease is not health)

• The norm way of thinking would be: work harder = more successful

                                                                 more successful = happier

• Problem is, it is scientifically broken and backwards. Every time our brain has success, we change the goalpost of what success looks like. For e.g, "good grades -> better grades" "good school -> better schools"
• Even if happiness is on the opposite side of success; your brain will never get there. We have socially pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon because we thought that we have to be successful first then happiness comes afterwards. But this is not how our brain works, in works in the opposite order.
• If we are able to reverse the formula, becoming more positive in the present and work more intelligently, we can start to see what our brains are capable of. As dopamine floods into our system when we are positive, it turns on all learning centers in our brain; allowing us to adapt to the world in a different way.

Happiness Advantage:

• Can only occur if we can raise somebody's level of positivity into the present.
• It is proven that our brain is 31% more productive at positive platforms than at neutral or stressed.

Ways to create lasting positive changes:

• 3 gratitudes
• Journaling
• Exercise
• Meditation
• Random acts of kindness