Train Yourself To Be Happy To Turn Happiness Into A Success Advantage

Many of us think of success as paving the way to happiness. You work to get that promotion or finish grad school, etc, to get happier. Author Shawn Achor argues the formula should be reversed: be happier now to achieve greater success.

You can see this philosophy at work in his TEDx talk about “the happiness advantage”. Over at Psychology Today, Achor writes that happiness leads to greater success:

Every single relationship, business and educational outcome improves when the brain is positive first. If you cultivate happiness while in the midst of your struggles, work, at school, while unemployed or single, you increase your chances of attaining all the goals you are pursuing…including happiness.

But happiness takes work. We have to train our brains to be positive. Activities you can try every day to achieve more happiness in your life, as a habit and as an advantage for future success, include writing down three things you’re grateful for each day or spending just two minutes a day meditating.

The article at Psychology Today has a few other examples, but if you’ve got tips for making happiness more of a habit, let’s hear them in the comments.

The Happiness Advantage [Psychology Today]