Going toward the Happiness Advantage and moving along strong.
Jump on, and bring your kids. In 2-5 minutes a day, we’re reaching a more consistent state of “happy” and making our brains 31% more productive. Cool. (Check out the video below by esteemed Harvard professor, Shawn Anchor – well worth the 12 minutes!)
We’ve been on the journey for 8 days, and we’re well on our way . . .
To Increased Happy. And A More Productive Brain.
It’s founded in science. We can actually rewire our brains, in 2-5 minutes a day, to scan the world for the positive, increase our happiness, and retrain our brains to work more optimistically, productively, and successfully. Here’s what we do, each day:
– Write down 3 new things for which we are grateful
– Write down (or journal about) 1 positive experience from the last 24 hours
– Do an act of kindness, or praise/thank someone
For those of you already on board, you’re almost there. For those just joining us, it’s a gratifying and pretty easy process — a small cost for increased happiness and a more productive brain, eh? Now, let’s add in the last bit: Meditation (or prayer) and Exercise.
That’s it. That’s the formula for the Happiness Advantage: 2-5 minutes a day, for 21 days, and you will evolve in a happier state, with a more productive brain. Here’s why (otherwise known as the science of happiness):
— Only 10% of long-term happiness is attributed to our external world, while 90% of long-term happiness comes from how our brains process the world
— If we raise our level of positivity, our brains perform significantly better. Our intelligence rises, our creativity increases, and our energy levels soar. Our brains at “positive” are actually 31% more productive than at a negative, neutral or stressed level. (In fact, Shawn Anchor found that only 25% of job successes are predicted by I.Q., while 75% of job successes are a result of our optimism levels (as well as our social support) and our ability to view stress as a challenge, rather than a threat.)
— When we are positive, dopamine releases into our system. Dopamine does two things: it makes us happier, and it turns on all the learning centers in our brains.
So, at the end of 21 days, we are happier, with more productive brains. Here’s a breakdown of each piece of the formula:
Writing down 3 new things for which we are grateful trains our brains to maintain a pattern of scanning the world, first, for the positive, rather than the negative.
Writing down or journaling about 1 positive experience in the last 24 hours encourages our brains to relive the positive experience.
Doing 1 act of kindness or praising or thanking someone creates ripples of positivity (enhancing our happiness and brain productivity levels).
Meditation (or prayer) allows our brains to work through the society-based ADHD that we have created by the need to do multiple things at one time.
Exercise teaches our brains that our behavior matters.
There it is. Work it in. 21 days. It will be a new year. And a new you. Happier, Healthier, More Productive. Founded in science. Happy Advantage to You.
http://bit.ly/VKFlvW
factsoflifebooks.com 
Wanted to let you know the Happiness Advantage really does work! I can speak to it firsthand. Someone at work sent me a link to Shawn Achor’s TED TALK video and I was floored b/c it was as if he was talking about me. I’ve been that way most of my life and would make a case that my overall success in life was as a direct result of practicing the habits described in the book.
Shawn’s book provided me with a repeatable process I could use to teach the Happiness Advantage to others. So I started teaching it to my college students, and over the past year I’ve seen it turn peoples’ life around and even benefit whole families who adopted it!
In fact, I’m so convinced it’s that good that I started a movement to give away The Happiness Advantage book to strangers as a random act of kindness. Through private funding and the generous donations of strangers, we will give away 365 books this year and hope to double that number next year. This is my way of spreading the Happiness Advantage, and helping others with a desire to improve their lives. Check out the movement’s website and let us know what you think: ShareTheAdvantage.org.
The Happiness Advantage is, in fact, a proven prescription — whether we have learned to do it automatically or whether we have trained ourselves through the 21-day exercises. Way to pay it forward!