In The Happiness Advantage, Dr. Shawn Achor tells us:
“These best and brightest willingly sacrificed happiness for success because, like so many of us, they had been taught that if you work hard you will be successful—and only then, once you are successful, will you be happy. They had been taught that happiness is the reward you get only when you become partner of an investment firm, win the Nobel Prize, or get elected to Congress… new research in psychology and neuroscience shows that it works the other way around: We become more successful when we are happier and more positive. For example, doctors put in a positive mood before making a diagnosis show almost three times more intelligence and creativity than doctors in a neutral state, and they make accurate diagnoses 19 percent faster. Optimistic salespeople outsell their pessimistic counterparts by 56 percent. Students primed to feel happy before taking math achievement tests far outperform their neutral peers. It turns out that our brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best not when they are negative or even neutral, but when they are positive… a ‘meta-analysis,’ a study of nearly every scientific happiness study available—over 200 studies on 275,000 people worldwide. Their findings exactly matched the principles I was teaching—that happiness leads to success in nearly every domain, including work, health, friendship, sociability, creativity, and energy.“
In Happiness Studies, Dr. Tal Ben-shahar tells us:
“Increasing happiness improves personal and professional relationships. Happiness is associated with a stronger immune system, and happier people live longer. Happiness and kindness are intimately linked, in that happiness makes people behave more kindly and generously, and in turn generosity and kindness contribute to happiness. In the workplace, a greater sense of wellbeing increases rates of employee retention and engagement, encourages innovation, reduces burnout, and increases both employee productivity and organizational performance.”
There you go. Let’s focus on the elements of happiness found in the SPIRE, PERMA +V, or Big 3×2 models, and success will take care of itself.
