Do you want to know the true secret to obtaining happiness and full potential at life and work?
In this inspiring TED talk, psychologist Shawn Achor reminds us that we’re constantly trying to reach success in a world where we are are lead to believe that if we work harder, we’ll be more successful.
“You got good grades, now you have to get better grades, you got into a good school and after you get into a better one, you got a good job, now you have to get a better job, you hit your sales target, we’re going to change it,” is something we can all relate to.
We’re all constantly striving, which could be actually holding us back. If happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there.
He teaches us that being happy and finding meaning in each day is the ultimate success, and makes working, school, and accomplishments that much more rewarding.
This is because our brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise your level of positivity in the present, then your brain experiences a happiness advantage. Your brain performs significantly better at positive than at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise as a result.
So If we can find a way of becoming positive in the present, then our brains work even more successfully as we’re able to work harder, faster and more intelligently.
Well, you can! In just a two-minute span of time, done for 21 days in a row, you can train your brain to be able to become more positive, allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully.
Write down three new things that you’re grateful for
For 21 days in a row, write three new things each day. And at the end of that, your brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world not for the negative, but for the positive first.
Write down a positive experience you’ve had over the past 24 hours
This allows your brain to relive it. Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters.
And finally…
Random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness
Open up your inbox, write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in your support network.
By doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, you can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but a real revolution.
