Ninety percent of your long-term happiness is a predicted not by the external world, says Shawn Achor, but by the way your brain processes the world. Based on this monumental 90%, the Harvard professor and New York Times bestselling author, says it’s necessary to train the brain to your advantage. That advantage, he says, is happiness.
It seems a little backwards, doesn’t it? Since we were young, we’ve been told that in order to be happy, we have to work hard, be successful, and then happiness ensues. But in reality, the formula is flipped. Positive psychology has shown that when we start with happiness, we are primed to be more successful, creative, innovative and productive. That’s because when our brain is skewed to the positive, it performs significantly better than when the brain is in a negative, neutral or stressed state. Better can mean a wide range of outcomes from enhanced learning to better vision.
But how does one see the world with rose-coloured lenses when the realities of day-to-day life require us to be reasonable, critical and analytical? Achor agrees that there are times and situations when those responses are warranted. That’s why he suggests to develop a healthy sense of optimism by practising the following skills:
Regularly recognize the good in your life (and your brain starts to scan for the positive)
Training your brain to notice the good in life takes practice. Achor recommends making it a daily ritual: at the same time everyday (set an alert in your calendar) jot down three good specific things that happened in your day — maybe a driver waved you in a lane or a colleague paid you a sincere compliment. This five-minute practice causes your brain to scan for potential positives. With repetition, this will become automatic. The Five Minute Journal makes it easy.
Set aside 5 minutes a day to meditate
Turn off your phone, close your door and focus on watching your breath. Meditation takes practice but it’s one of the most powerful happiness interventions. Research shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, even improve immune function. Apps like Headspace and Calm are helpful for beginners.
Exercise
Walk (preferably in nature), run, bike, dance, stretch or interval train – when you move you lift your mood, improve motivation, reduce stress and defend against depression.
Choose something to look forward to
Anticipating future rewards lights up the pleasure centres in the brain as much as the actual reward. So set a date, book a vacation or plan to watch your favourite show — whenever you need a boost of happiness, remind yourself about what’s coming up.
Flex your signature strength
Achor says one way to get an immediate jolt of happiness is to exercise a strength of character — be it creativity, a love of learning, kindness, leadership, teamwork or appreciation of beauty. Find out your top 5 character strengths and use one every day. Studies show that the more you use your signature strengths in daily life, the happier you become.
Shawn Achor was a speaker at the 2016 Executive Performance Summit, presented by Medcan and The Globe and Mail. His bestseller The Happiness Advantage was published in 2010, and he is the CEO of Good Think, Inc.
Photo by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash