Rating- 10/10
Date finished- October 16, 2020
Thoughts
The book has actually helped me to be more positive. Of all the seven principles in the book, 'The Fulcrum and the Lever' and 'The Zorro Circle' have been my favorites.
Who should read it
Everyone! We all deserve to be happy
Summary + high-yield notes
Happiness is the precursor to success, not merely the result.
Our brains are literally hardwired to perform best not when they are negative or even neutral, but when they are positive.
"Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it is the realization that we can."
"The belief that we are just our genes is one of the most pernicious myths in modern culture—the insidious notion that people come into the world with a fixed set of abilities and that they, and their brains, cannot change."
The seven principles of positive psychology
Principle 1: The happiness advantage
Aristotle defined happiness as eudaimonia which doesn't translate directly to "happiness" but "human flourishing". Happiness is the joy we feel striving after our potential.
Data abounds showing that happy workers have higher levels of productivity, produce higher sales, perform better in leadership positions, and receive higher performance ratings and higher pay. They also enjoy more job security and are less likely to take sick days, to quit, or to become burned out. Happy CEOs are more likely to lead teams of employees who are both happy and healthy, and who find their work climate conducive to high performance.
Positive emotions broaden the amount of possibilities we process, makes us more thoughtful, creative, productive and open to new ideas. Negative emotions on the other hand narrow down our actions to fight or flight.
How does happiness give us a chemical edge on the competition?: They flood our brains with dopamine and serotonin which not only makes us feel good but also expand the learning centers in our brains. They help us organize new information, keep that information in the brain longer, and retrieve it faster later on. And 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.
Happiness precedes important outcomes and indicators of thriving.
There are some ways we can improve our moods and happiness throughout the day so as to be more productive and creative: meditate, exercise, be kind, find something to look forward to etc
Once we accept this new order in the working universe—that happiness is the center around which success orbits—we can change the way we work, interact with colleagues, and lead our teams, to give our own careers, and our whole organizations, the competitive edge.
Principle 2: The Fulcrum and the Lever
Happiness is about adjusting our brains so that we see the ways that we can rise above our circumstances.
Archimedean formula- Archimedes(the greatest scientist and mathematician of ancient Greece) famously said" Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world".
Our brains too, operate according to the Archimedean formula. The power to maximize our potential depends on two things
The length of our lever- how much possibility, power and potential we have
The position of our fulcrum- the mindset with which we generate the power to change
Where should we move our fulcrum to- "The more we move our fulcrum (or mindset), the more our lever lengthens and so the more power we generate. Move the fulcrum so that all the advantage goes to a negative mindset, and we never rise off the ground. Move the fulcrum to a positive mindset, and the lever’s power is magnified—ready to move everything up."
Simply put, by changing the fulcrum of our mindset and lengthening our lever of possibility, we change what is possible. It’s not the weight of the world that determines what we can accomplish. It is our fulcrum and lever
The mental construction of our daily activities, more than the activity itself defines our reality.
Give yourself a competitive advantage - when faced with a difficult task or challenge, give yourself a competitive advantage by focusing on the reasons you will succeed rather than fail. For the best results in these situations,, focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses.
Fixed mindset vs Growth mindset- Those with a "fixed mindset" believe that their capabilities are always set while those with a "growth mindset" believe that they can enhance their basic qualities through effort.
Carol Dweck(Stanford psychologist)- “although people may differ in every which way—in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments—everyone can change and grow through application and experience.”
Job vs career vs calling- "People with a “job” see work as a chore and their paycheck as the reward. They work because they have to and constantly look forward to the time they can spend away from their job. By contrast, people who view their work as a career work not only out of necessity, but also to advance and succeed. They are invested in their work and want to do well. Finally, people with a calling view work as an end in itself; their work is fulfilling not because of external rewards but because they feel it contributes to the greater good, draws on their personal strengths, and gives them meaning and purpose."
People who view their work as a calling find it more rewarding and work harder and longer.
You can have the best job in the world but without finding the meaning in it, you won't enjoy it, whether you are a soccer player, musician or an air hostess.
Pygmalion effect- Our belief in another person's potential can lead to the potential being brought to life.
"Whether we are trying to uncover the talent in a class of second graders or in the workers sitting around at the morning meeting, the Pygmalion Effect can happen anywhere. The expectations we have about our children, co-workers, and spouses—whether or not they are ever voiced—can make that expectation a reality."
Principle 3: The Tetris Effect
"Everyone knows someone stuck in some version of the Tetris Effect—someone who is unable to break a pattern of thinking or behaving. Often, this pattern can be negative. The friend who walks into any room and immediately finds the one thing to complain about. The boss who focuses on what an employee continues to do wrong, instead of how he’s improving. The colleague who predicts doom before every meeting, no matter the circumstances. You know the type. Maybe you’re even one of them."
Constantly scanning the world for the negative usually makes us less creative and more stressful.
Law schools- “Law schools teach students to look for flaws in arguments, and they train them to be critical rather than accepting.” And while this of course is “a crucial skill for lawyers in practice,” when it starts to leak beyond the courtroom into their personal lives it can have “significant negative consequences.” Trained to be on the lookout for the flaws in every argument, the holes in every case, they start “to overestimate the significance and permanence of the problems they encounter,” the fastest route to depression and anxiety—which in turn interferes with their ability to do their job.
The Tetris Effect need not be maladaptive- We can train our brains to scan for the good things in life- to help us see more possibility, to feel more energy and succeed at higher levels.
"When our brains constantly scan for and focus on the positive, we profit from three of the most important tools available to us: happiness, gratitude, and optimism"
There is no such thing as luck- The only thing that matters is whether one thinks he/she is lucky or not.
Training your brain to notice opportunities and positives requires concentrated practice.
Look at the world through rose-tinted glasses- Looking at the world through a lens that completely filters out the negatives comes at it's own cost. We should instead look at the world through lens that let the major problems into our field of vision while still keeping our focus largely on the positive.
Principle 4: Falling Up
All human decisions involve this kind of mental mapping: they start with an “I Am Here” point (the status quo), from which a variety of paths radiate outward, the number depending on the complexity of the decision, and the clarity of your thinking at the moment. The most successful decisions come when we are thinking clearly and creatively enough to recognize all the paths available to us, and accurately predict where that path will lead. The problem is that when we are stressed or in crisis, many people miss the most important path of all: the path up.
The three mental maps- 1. One keeps circling around where you where you currently are( i.e the negative event creates no change). 2. Another leads you towards other negative consequences(this path explains why we are afraid of conflict and challenge) 3. This one leads us from failure and setback to a place where we are even stronger and more capable than before the fail.
Bouncing forward- The people who can most successfully get themselves up off the mat are those who define themselves by not what has happened to them but by what they can make out of what has happened to them. They use adversity to find the path forward. They speak just not of "bouncing back" but of "bouncing forward".
“We can only learn to deal with failure by actually experiencing failure, by living through it. The earlier we face difficulties and drawbacks, the better prepared we are to deal with the inevitable obstacles along our path.”
If you don't believe there is a way up, you have virtually no choice but to stay as down as you are.
The two shoe salesmen- You’ve probably heard the oft-told story of the two shoe salesmen who were sent to Africa in the early 1900s to assess opportunities. They wired separate telegrams back to their boss. One read: “Situation hopeless. They don’t wear shoes.” The other read: “Glorious opportunity! They don’t have any shoes yet.” This point is that when some people face adversities, they stop looking for ways to turn their failures into opportunities while others- the most successful among us- will gather their wits, capitalize on their strengths and forge ahead.
While a leader’s natural reaction to financial crisis might be to lay low and wait for things to pick up, the Wall Street Journal stresses that this is the exact wrong approach; instead, managers should redouble their efforts, because “crises can be catalysts for creativity.” Leaders who become paralyzed by the obstacles in front of them miss this great opportunity. Helplessness will drive down not just their own performance but also employee well-being and their company’s bottom line.
Our explanatory style has a big impact on our happiness and future success- Our explanatory style is how we choose to explain the nature of our past events. People with optimistic explanatory style see adversity as temporary while those with pessimistic explanatory style see it as permanent. The ones who believe the latter statement lose hope and stop trying while those who believe the former persevere and are spurred on to higher performance.
Our fear of consequences is always worse than the consequence itself- Adversities, no matter what they are, do not hit us as hard as we think they will.
Success is about using that downward momentum to propel ourselves in the opposite direction.
Principle 5: The Zorro Circle
Concentrate your efforts on small manageable goals- "One of the biggest drivers of success is the belief that our behavior matters; that we have control over our future. Yet when our stresses and workloads seem to mount faster than our ability to keep up, feelings of control are often the first things to go, especially when we try to tackle too much at once. If, however, we first concentrate our efforts on small manageable goals, we regain the feeling of control so crucial to performance. By first limiting the scope of our efforts, then watching those efforts have the intended effect, we accumulate the resources, knowledge, and confidence to expand the circle, gradually conquering a larger and larger area."
Internal locus of control- The most successful people in life and work are those who have "internal locus of control(The belief that their actions have a direct impact on their outcomes). People with an external locus, on the other hand, are more likely to see daily events as dictated by external forces.
Regaining control, one circle at a time- When we lose control of our lives, the first goal to conquer is self-awareness. When you fell high levels of distress, it is advisable to identify how you are feeling and put those feelings into words. Brain scans show verbal information almost immediately diminishes the power of these negative emotions, improving wellbeing and enhancing decision-making skills. So whether you do it by writing down feelings in a journal or talking to a trusted coworker or confidant, verbalizing the stress and helplessness you are feeling is the first step toward regaining control.
You can't sprint your way to a marathon- " Unfortunately, when it comes to our work, we are often faced with unreasonable expectations—both those we set for ourselves and those others set for us. But when our goals are unrealizable, we run the risk of ending up like that overreaching marathoner —frustrated, dejected, and stuck. In today’s results-obsessed workplace, it’s no wonder we’re impatient and overly ambitious. We want to be the top salesman or earn the highest bonus or have the biggest office—and we want it NOW. But in the real world, this all-or nothing mindset nearly guarantees failure. Furthermore, the feelings that result from frustrated attempts and overwhelming stressors hijack our brain, jumpstarting that vicious and insidious cycle of helplessness that puts our goals even further out of reach."
Small successes can add up to major achievements.
Principle 6: The 20-Second Rule
We are mere "bundles of habit"- "Humans, William James said, are biologically prone to habit, and it is because we are “mere bundles of habits” that we are able to automatically perform many of our daily tasks—from brushing our teeth first thing in the morning to setting the alarm before climbing into bed at night Given our natural tendency to act out of habit, James surmised, couldn’t the key to sustaining positive change be to turn each desired action into a habit, so that it would come automatically, without much effort, thought, or choice?"
Daily strokes of effort- William James; “A tendency to act,” he wrote, “only becomes effectively ingrained in us in proportion to the uninterrupted frequency with which the actions actually occur, and the brain ‘grows’ to their use.” In other words, habits form because our brain actually changes in response to frequent practice.
The path of least resistance- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: “Why would we spend four times more time doing something that has less than half the chance of making us feel good?” The answer is that we are drawn—powerfully, magnetically—to those things that are easy, convenient, and habitual, and it is incredibly difficult to overcome this inertia. Active leisure is more enjoyable, but it almost always requires more initial effort—getting the bike out of the garage, driving to the museum, tuning the guitar, and so on. Csikszentmihalyi calls this “activation energy.” In physics, activation energy is the initial spark needed to catalyze a reaction. The same energy, both physical and mental, is needed of people to overcome inertia and kick-start a positive habit. Otherwise, human nature takes us down the path of least resistance time and time again.
Lower the activation energy- lower the activation energy for habits you want to adopt and raise it for the ones you don't want to. The less energy it takes to kick-start a positive habit, the more likely that habit will stick.
Identify the activation energy—the time, the choices, the mental and physical effort they require—and then reduce it. If you can cut the activation energy for those habits that lead to success, even by as little as 20 seconds at a time, it won’t be long before you start reaping their benefits
Principle 7: Social Investment
Social relationships are the greatest investment you can make in The Happiness Advantage.
The happiest 10%- Only one thing separates the happiest 10% from everyone else and that is the strength of their social relationships.
When we make a positive social connection, the pleasure-inducing hormone oxytocin is released into our bloodstream, immediately reducing anxiety and improving concentration and focus. Each social connection also bolsters our cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune systems, so that the more connections we make over time, the better we function.
Offensive line- Our families, friends and spouses are the version of our offensive line. Our social support prevents stress from knocking us down and getting in the way of achieving our goals.
RIPPLE EFFECT
Our attitudes and behaviors not only affect those we interact with directly—like our colleagues, friends, and families—but that each individual’s influence actually appears to extend to people within three degrees.
By trying to make ourselves happier and more successful, we actually have the ability to improve the lives of 1,000 people around us.
The butterfly effect- "As this theory, known as the Butterfly Effect, goes, the flap of a butterfly’s wings may be one tiny motion, but it creates a slight gust of wind that eventually picks up greater and greater speed and power. In other words, one very small change can trigger a cascade of bigger ones. Each one of us is like that butterfly. And each tiny move toward a more positive mindset can send ripples of positivity through our organizations, our families, and our communities."