Happiness Advantage Principle 1

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PRINCIPLE #1

Happiness Gives Your Brain -- and your Organization the Competitive Edge.

Today a fundamental shift in the field of psychology is underway. For generations, we have been led to believe that happiness orbited around success. That if we work hard enough, we will be successful and only if we are successful, we become happy.

Thanks to breakthroughs in the field of positive psychology, we are learning the opposite is true. When we are happy, when our mindset is positive, we are smarter, more motivated and thus more successful. Happiness is the center, and success revolves around it.

Defining Happiness

Happiness is relative to the person experiencing it. Subjective well-being based on how we feel about our own lives. In essence, the best judge of how happy you are - is you!

Happiness implies a positive mood in the present and positive outlook for the future.

The chief engine of happiness is positive emotions, since happiness is, above all else, a feeling.

The Happiness Advantage at Work

The author mentions early in the chapter that impressive meta-analysis of happiness research that brought together the results of over 200 scientific studies on nearly 275,000 people – and found that happiness leads to success in nearly every domain of our lives, including marriage, health, friendship, community involvement, creativity, and in particular, our jobs, careers, and businesses. Data abounds showing that happy workers have higher levels of productivity, produce higher levels of sales, perform better in leadership roles and receive higher performance ratings at higher pay.

Recent research shows that this “broadening effect” is actually biological; that happiness gives us a real chemical edge on the competition. How? Positive emotions flood our brains with dopamine and serotonin, chemicals that not only make us feel good, but dial up the learning centers of our brains to higher levels. They enable us to make and sustain more neural connections, which allows us to think more quickly and creatively, become more skilled at complex analysis and problem solving and see and invent new ways of doing things.

We even quite literally see more of what’s around us when we are feeling happy.

The Happiness Advantage is why cutting edge software companies have foosball tables in the employee lounge, and why Yahoo has an in-house massage parlor and why Google engineers are encouraged to bring their dogs to work. It isn’t just because it's fun, it's because fun also leads to bottom line results.

Positive emotions can begin to open our eyes and minds to new solutions and ideas even at a very young age. In one study, researchers asked four year olds to complete a series of learning tasks such as putting together blocks of different shapes. The first group was given neutral instructions: Please put these blocks together as quickly as you can. The second group had the same set of instructions, then asked them first to briefly think about something that makes them happy. The children primed to be happy significantly outperformed completing the task more quickly and fewer errors.

The Undoing Effect

Bryan, a salesman from Des Moines, was already feeling nervous about his upcoming presentation to the bosses. “Big meeting at 4” his boss reminded him. “You Ready?” “Don’t mess up buddy!”  Bryan felt stress coursing through his body. Even though ready for the presentation, he was now so nervous that he spent the next few hours going over it again and again. 

Little did Bryan know that the more he focused his mind on the potentially disastrous effects of a bad presentation, the more doomed himself to failure.

Bryan could have been better off to find a quick dose of happiness.

Why does this work? Because in addition to broadening our intellectual and creative capacities, positive emotions also provide a swift antidote to physical stress and anxiety, what psychologists call the “Undoing Effect.”

Capitalizing on the Happiness Advantage

We can all reap the full benefits of the Happiness Advantage if we work hard enough at it. Remember, happiness is not just mood – it’s a work ethic.

Scientists once thought happiness was almost completely hereditary (dictated by a genetically determined “set point”). But thankfully, they have since discovered that in fact we have far more control over our own emotional well-being than previously believed.

As important as these larger shifts in thinking and behavior are, it's equally important to realize that the happiness Advantage also lies in the small, momentary blips of positivity that pepper our lives each and every day. 

With this in mind, here are a number of proven ways way can improve our moods and raise our levels of happiness throughout each day.

• Meditate

• Find something to look forward to

• Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness

• Infuse Positivity Into your Surroundings

• Exercise

• Spend Money (but not on stuff)

• Exercise a signature strength

Putting the Horse Before the Cart: Leading with the Happiness Advantage

Anyone can send ripples of positivity throughout their workplace. But one thing I have found in my work with managers and companies is that this is even more true for leaders or people in a position of authority – mainly because they determine company policies and shape the workplace culture. They are often expected to set an example for their employees and they tend to interact with the most people over the course of their day.

Even more misguided, though , and the managers who discourage even the activities that involve relatively little time investment. Most of the people I work with admit that they would be embarrassed or ashamed if the boss walked by as they were laughing at a Youtube video, or talking to their five-year old on the phone.

Sacrificing positivity in the name of time management and efficiency actually slows us down.

Google is famous for gourmet chefs in the cafeteria. 

One way we can improve productivity and positivity is to simply provide frequent recognition and encouragement.

Just as important as what you say to employees is how you say it. The Best leaders know that delivering instruction in an angry, negative tone handicaps their employees before the task is even underway.

Stay tuned for next week as we dive into The Happiness Advantage Principle 2!