[Warning]: This blog post won’t solve all of life’s problems but might help guide you towards being happier today, tomorrow, and every day after that.
[Confession]: I have a problem when it comes to TedxTalks. An addiction really. I have a tendency to cite every new TedxTalk that I watch as my all-time favorite. But the one I’m about to write about seriously is… so immediately after reading this post, go watch it. It’s 12 minutes that will change your life.
The talk, The happy secret to better work, was given by Shawn Achor who is a psychologist from Harvard. He argues that being happier in the present ultimately yields better, more efficient results overall. We’re often so preoccupied by chasing goals that we believe will lead to happiness, that we forget to be happy in the moment. We set out to achieve goals expecting happiness to be found on the other side of accomplishment – but surprise surprise – that formula doesn’t work.
So now that we can all agree that we have everything wrong and aren’t happy because we’re waiting for arbitrary things to dictate our happiness, what’s the solution? This TedxTalk has you walking away with a list of concrete things to do. It boils down to a simple list of action steps to take every day for 21 days and they are as follows:
3 Gratitudes: By writing down three new things you’re thankful for every day, your brain starts to scan for the positives rather than the negatives.
Journaling: Writing down one positive experience you had each day allows your brain to relive it.
Exercise: All it takes is 15 minutes and, among the long list of positives, it teaches your brain that your behavior matters.
Meditation: A few minutes of stillness and solitude allows your brain to get over what Shawn Achor calls “cultural ADHD”. We’re constantly trying to do a million things at once that we don’t know how to focus on the one task at hand anymore.
Random acts of kindness: Writing one positive note, email, or thank you to someone causes a ripple effect of positivity.
The TedxTalk stipulates it as a 21-day challenge that hopefully leads to developing a permanent habit. So get a journal, find your quiet spot, thank the people around you, and live a fuller, more meaningful life starting today. #yourewelcome
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