Training to be Happy

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.

The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence, there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day, to have a new and different sun.” – Chris McCandless

With so much troubling news these days including the negative political, social, and financial problems created by Covid-19 I wanted to post a little something that I thought might be beneficial to people.

Research shows that when people work with a positive mind-set, performance on nearly every level—productivity, creativity, engagement—improves. Yet happiness is perhaps the most misunderstood driver of performance. For one, most people believe that success precedes happiness. “Once I get a promotion, I’ll be happy,” they think. Or, “Once I hit my sales target, I’ll feel great.” But because success is a moving target—as soon as you hit your target, you raise it again—the happiness that results from success is fleeting.

In fact, it works the other way around: People who cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of challenge. I call this the “happiness advantage”—every outcome shows improvement when the brain is positive. And I’m not alone: In a meta-analysis of 225 academic studies, researchers Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener of Harvard University found strong evidence of directional causality between life satisfaction and successful life outcomes.

Another common misconception is that our genetics, our environment, or a combination of the two determines how happy we are. To be sure, both factors have an impact. But one’s general sense of well-being is surprisingly malleable. The habits you cultivate, the way you interact with people, how you think about stress—all these can be managed to increase your happiness and your chances of succes.

Develop New Habits

Training your brain to be positive is not so different from training your muscles at the gym. Recent research on neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to change even in adulthood—reveals that as you develop new habits, you rewire the brain.

Engaging in one of these brief positive exercises every day for as little as three weeks can have a long lasting impact. Here are five activities that I have correlated with positive change in one’s daily life (both physically and mentally):

• Jot down three things that you are grateful for (it can be anything.)
• Write a positive message to someone in your social support network (it can be anyone.)
• Meditate for at least five minutes a day (it can be anywhere.)
• Exercise for 10 minutes a day (again anywhere.)
• Take two minutes to describe in a journal the most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours.

Help Your Coworkers

Of the five activities described above, the most effective may be engaging positively with people in your social support network. Strong social support correlates with an astonishing number of desirable outcomes. For instance, research shows that high levels of social support predict longevity as reliably as regular exercise does, and low social support is as damaging as high blood pressure.

I know this list is by no means complete, but it only takes a few small steps each day to change the way we think, interact, and focus our intentions in a more positive way on the beleaguered world around us!