Why Happiness is the New Productivity (The Story of Mindvalley)
This video features a talk by Vishen Lakhiani, the founder and CEO of Mindvalley. If you haven’t heard of him and the company yet, you will soon. He offers 10 tangible takeaways to help you make your life and the lives of everyone at your workplace happier.
The first item on the list was something I’ve been thinking about doing already, but keep putting off because it’s not convenient. Shawn Achor, who I’ve mentioned a few times before, talks about keeping a gratitude journal in his book The Happiness Advantage. My wife and I started this a while and and have quite a few entries, but we’ve both started slacking. The solution: http://www.gratitudelog.com/ – now there should be no excuse!
Link to Vishen’s 50 minute video: http://www.mindvalley.com/flow
Thrive – Finding Happiness The Blue Zones Way by Dan Buettner
This author travels to 4 different places around the world that are supposed to be the happiest on the planet: Denmark, Singapore, Mexico, (and of course) California and offers great lessons and takeaways from each place. It’s surprising how different each location is and how it’s possible to be happy in each of those lifestyles.
Link to a free study guide that summarizes the book: http://www.bluezones.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ThriveStudyGuide.pdf
The Power of a Positive No by William Ury
When you’re newly married, trying to get an MBA while working at a job you enjoy (if you don’t like it then it’s easy to put down the work and just go home) and living at home with your parents, time is your most valuable resource. This is true even if you’re not trying to do a million things at once. So often times you are faced with the challenge of saying “no” to people… your spouse, family, friends, boss etc. – not because you don’t want to spend time with them and do things with them, but because you have committed to something such as school and that will suffer if you give in to everyone. Having to say “no” tends to reduce our happiness unless we approach it in the way that the author does:
- First think of the YES – what is it that YOU want to do?
- Then confirm with yourself how in order to do this YES, you need to say NO and follow through.
- Finally follow up with another YES – an alternative positive outcome for the person (“If I can’t help you with that today, how about we work on it this weekend when I have time?” Of course it’s not always that easy, but that’s why this book is good, it takes you through a lot of scenarios)
Link to the book that will help you say no: http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Positive-No-Relationship/dp/0553384260
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
I was extremely excited when I saw that my library had this audiobook. I would recommend it if you have some time, but watching his TED video (link below) and following through on what he recommends there is almost as good.
Link to the author’s TED Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXy__kBVq1M
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What other great content about happiness have you encountered recently? Please share in the comments below!