7 Principles for Success
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” - Albert Schweitzer
Many people think that success is the key to happiness. Shawn Achor, happiness researcher and bestselling author, points to positive psychology and neuroscience research that shows it’s actually the other way around. Happiness comes before success. In his internationally bestselling book The Happiness Advantage Shawn presents the case that a positive mindset can significantly improve productivity, creativity, and overall wellbeing. He shares with us seven proven patterns we can incorporate in our lives to fuel success in nearly every area of life.
Principle 1 - The Happiness Advantage
We can improve our productivity and performance by training our brains to capitalize on positivity. Negative emotions trigger us into fight or flight mode, which narrows down our actions. Positive emotions broaden the number of possibilities we process, so we tend to become more creative and receptive to new ideas. Positive emotions can have an “undoing effect” on the physiological effects of stress.
Practical Application:
Shawn offers some ways we can incorporate the Happiness Advantage into our lives.
Meditate for at least 5 minutes
Plan something to look forward to and reap the benefits of anticipation
Pick one day a week and make 5 deliberate and conscious acts of kindness
Create an inspiring environment around you and take breaks outside
Exercise and let those endorphins improve your motivation and get you into flow
Spend money on other people or on experiences that bring you pleasure
Identify your signature strengths and incorporate them into daily life
Principle 2 - The Fulcrum and the Lever
Shawn uses the analogy of a fulcrum and lever to illustrate the relationship between our mindset and our power. Adjusting our mindset, like moving a fulcrum, provides the leverage for greater fulfillment and success. The Placebo Effect further emphasizes the importance of belief in one’s ability to succeed.
Practical Application:
Change your perspective on tasks. Consider your “job” as a “calling” and find meaning in its impact.
Principle 3 - The Tetris Effect
Our brains, like email spam filters, selectively process information. By changing our mental settings, we can train ourselves to spot and seize opportunities among the patterns of possibility we encounter.
Practical Application: Train your brain to look for the positive by making a list of “three good things” that happened each day.
Principle 4 - Falling Up
We can reframe the way we view failure and what has happened to us. We can choose to experience Post Traumatic Growth – becoming more compassionate, more confident, stronger, and more open to possibilities. We can capitalize on setbacks and adversity to become even more motivated and successful.
Practical Application: Reframe a past experience as an opportunity for growth.
Principle 5 - The Zorro Circle
Start with small, manageable goals that can result in successes. Each success becomes a stepping stone for achieving larger goals.
Practical Application: Set a small goal to jumpstart your path to success.
Principle 6 - The 20-Second Rule
We can make it easy to do good habits and hard to do bad habits by simply changing the time/energy required to perform that habit. If it’s a good habit you’re trying to develop, shorten the time necessary (example: sleep in your gym clothes). If you’re trying to break a bad habit, increase the time necessary (example: take the batteries out of the remote control).
Practical Application: Identify a good habit you want to implement. Decrease the time it takes to perform that activity.
Principle 7 - Social Investment
Building a strong social support network is a key predictor of success. Invest in relationships through questions, eye contact, face-to-face meetings, and presence.
Practical Application: Identify at least one relationship you can invest in.
The Ripple Effect
Implementing these principles not only transforms individual lives, but also ripples through communities. Small changes can lead to cascading effects, creating a positive impact on families, organizations, and societies.
What small change will you initiate today?