Notes and Takeaways from The happy secret to better work
When I listened to it: June 2023
Why I listened to it: As part of my research on the power of gratitude, I stumbled upon Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, which inspired this TED talk on the secret to working better.
Go here for the talk or scroll down for my notes.
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My notes
About Shawn Achor
Shawn Achor is the CEO of Good Think Inc., where he researches and teaches about positive psychology. Shawn is the New York Times best-selling author of The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential. His Happiness Advantage training is one of the world's largest and most successful positive psychology corporate training programs.
Study the best the be like the best.
Positive psychology posits that if we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average. Instead, we should study above-average people in intellect, athletics, musical ability, creativity, energy levels, resiliency, and humor.
Medical School Syndrome
During the first year of medical training, as students study symptoms and diseases, they start to experience them. This is referred to as medical school syndrome.
Your brain shapes your reality.
The lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality. If we can change the lens, we change our attitude and outcomes.
Short-term happiness fades
When Shawn Achor studied college students, he noticed that no matter how happy they were with their original success of getting into the school, two weeks later their brains were no longer focused on the privilege of being there but on the workload, the stresses, and the complaints.
The key to understanding the science of happiness
We assume that our external world predicts our happiness levels, but in reality, it only accounts for ten percent of our long-term happiness. The remaining 90 percent of our long-term happiness depends on how our brains process the world.
The absence of disease is not health
To get to health, we must reverse the formula for happiness and success.
The happiness advantage
According to Shawn Achor, most companies, schools, and individuals follow this formula to motivate behavior: ”If I work harder, I'll be more successful. And if I'm more successful, then I'll be happier.” But this approach is broken because every time your brain has success, you change the goalpost of what success looks like. If you get good grades, now you have to get better grades. If you get into a good school, you have to get into a better one next time. And if happiness is on the other side of success, your brain never gets there.
Or brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise your level of positivity in the present, then your brain experiences what Shawn Achor calls a happiness advantage because your positive brain performs better than your negative, neutral, or stressed brain. This works because dopamine floods your system when you're positive, making you happier and turning on your learning centers. When you’re positive, your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, and your energy levels rise. According to Shawn Achor, your brain at positive is 31 percent more productive than your negative, neutral, or stressed brain.
This means you can reverse the formula. If you can figure out how to be positive, you can be more successful.
Retraining your brain to be positive
Shawn Achor says you can train your brain to become more positive. You can train your brain just like you train your body.
Journaling about a positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it. We can rewire our brains in two minutes per day for 21 days in a row. Write down three new things you're grateful for every day for 21 days. This trains your brain to prioritize scanning the world for the positive before the negative.
Exercise teaches your brain your behavior matters.
Meditation allows your brain to focus on the present.
Random acts of kindness force you to express gratitude and praise to others.