03 Mar Happiness
I’m speaking at The University of Iowa’s Marketing Institute’s Conference tomorrow.
The topic for all the speakers?
Happiness.
My focus is on personal happiness.
A few of the other speakers will focus on employee happiness and customer happiness.
I’m loving the subject and I’ve kind of jumped into it cannonball style!
I’ll be posting more on this in the days to come but for right now, I simply want to throw two books out that have been HUGE references for me on this subject. (And they’ve been blowing my mind a bit too!)
One is Shawn Achor’s new book called THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE.
Shawn’s taught the Happiness Course at Harvard for the past decade and is well steeped in the freakishly cool and relatively new movement called “Positive Psychology.” (Notice it’s “Positive Psychology” NOT “POP Psychology.” There’s a big difference!)
I’ve also been digging into Dan Pink‘s newest book simply called DRIVE.
If you lead people… or need to motivate people in any way… this book will make your brain explode! It’s packed with incredible research and dangerous wisdom on how to engage and encourage people today.
The thing that I love about both books and my emerging talk for tomorrow is that we’re talking about how “happiness is at the core of improved performance!”
Now… to clarify… we’re not talking about strapping on a fake smile and covering up with rose-colored glasses. We’re talking about choosing happiness and intentionally cultivating happiness… and that… hard core research is proving… wildly impacts performance as well as satisfaction and fulfillment!
Okay, there’s a lot more to come on this subject, but I need to get back to wrapping up my talk.
But I do have a question for you. It’s simple but important.
What’s something that makes you happy?
Seriously… fill in the blank: “Something that makes me happy is ________________.”
Think about it today.
Leave a comment.
And to be honest… I hope you can think of more than one thing to go in the blank!
In the meantime, keep dreaming BIG,
Mitch
jay carstensen
Posted at 07:01h, 03 MarchIf I could recommend another book that helped me in my quest of happiness:
Why the Chicken Crossed the Road: & Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings from the Buddha to Bebop to Mother Goose by Dean Sluyter.
It is a great book to help see inspiration in various sources and can lead to happiness!
If I can pose another question to to get the juices flowing:
At what point does your happiness transform to contentment?
Be well!
Jay
J
Posted at 09:26h, 03 Marchwhat makes me happy: sunshine, the scent of a perfume my Mom wore in the summer of 1985, seeing a friend in the waiting room at the doctor’s office and talking to her like no time has passed and getting a hug, the promise of spring, renewal and transformation and knowing it doesn’t come from me! And this is coincidentally (!) so similar to a journaling workshop I presented at Express Your Faith
Jocelyn Wallace
Posted at 15:58h, 09 MarchThe first thing that came to mind that makes me happy is… when I start to believe in myself, and that I can make a positive difference for other people. I can feel the earth move when that happens. I just wish it happened more often! 🙂
Jocelyn Wallace
http://www.jocelynwallace.com