The Happiness Advantage

The Happiness Advantage turns the tables on happiness, by proving it’s a tool for success, instead of the result of it, and gives you 7 actionable principles you can use to increase both.

This is the core message of the book. The book quotes a study done by Martin Seligman, the “father” of positive psychology, where the happiness of 272 employees was monitored over 18 months. Those who were happier before the study achieved more success later on.

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Instead of trying to become successful, so you can finally be happy in the distant future, try to become happy right now, so you’ll be successful later.

Which sounds easier?

Making a million bucks, or increasing your serotonin levels a bit by watching a funny video, so you can score better on a math test later today, since serotonin also improves your memory?

Of course this is oversimplified, but being happy is really all about your mindset. You can’t always influence what happens to you, but you can change your attitude.

For example, research has shown that just anticipating something you’re looking forward to (like that funny video), can boost your endorphin levels by 27%.

I had no clue about this. Really cool.

The Tetris effect is what happens when you spend hours on end doing one particular activity. Your brain becomes so engaged, that the environment of the activity spills over to the rest of your life.

For example, people who played several hours of Tetris per day started seeing the blocks before sleeping, and imagining cereal boxes in the grocery store fall into place.

Shawn Achor says this can be positive or negative. In the case of Tetris, people started optimizing their environment, and became more efficient.

Similarly, you can train your brain to spot the positive things in your life, in order to become more optimistic.

For example you can start a gratitude ritual, where you write down 3 things you’re grateful for each day. I’ve done this for 3 years now and it puts a positive spin on your day, no matter what happened.

After each failure, crisis or catastrophe, 3 possible things can happen: Nothing changes. You’re caught in a downward spiral, and more bad things follow. You come back stronger than ever before. Obviously, you have to shoot for scenario number 3 as often as possible. Speaking of scenarios: Following a bad event, your brain always makes up alternative scenarios. These are called counterfacts and this is where you get to take control. You have to choose to believe the alternative scenario, that will lead to you working harder, instead of less. Here’s an example: When Michael…