The Happiness Advantage Book Exploration by Laurie Hawkins

1. THE HAPPINESS
ADVANTAGE
By Shawn Achor
BOOK EXPLORATION
By Laurie Hawkins

2. OUR MOST COMMONLY HELD FORMULA FOR
SUCCESS IS BROKEN
“Even the moments of positivity in the workplace can enhance
efficiency, motivation, creativity, and productivity.”
smallest
KEY INSIGHTS
You become more successful when you are happier and more positive, not the
other way around
Happiness is the joy you feel moving towards your potential
The Happiness Advantage is not the belief that you don’t need to change; it is
the realization that you can
Happiness is not just a mood—it’s a work ethic (a choice)

3. PRINCIPLE #1:
THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE
What is happiness? There is no universal definition for happiness. Generally, it is a state
of subjective well-being that involves a positive mood in the moment and a positive
viewpoint for the future. In this book, Achor uses happiness interchangeably with words
like positivity and positive emotions.
Martin Seligman, the pioneer in positive psychology, has broken happiness down
into three, measurable components: pleasure, engagement, and meaning.
For Shawn Achor, happiness is the joy we feel striving after our potential.
Instead of narrowing our actions down to fight or flight as negative emotions do,
positive ones broaden the amount of possibilities we process, making us more
thoughtful, creative, and open to new ideas.
Even the smallest shots of positivity can give someone a serious competitive
edge.

4. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MOOD
AND RAISE YOUR HAPPINESS
THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Invest in Meaningful Experiences
Exercise
Find Something to Look Forward To
Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness
Infuse Positivity into Your Surroundings
Meditate
Leverage a Signature Strength

5. PRINCIPLE #2:
THE FULCRUM AND THE LEVER
Famous scientist and mathematician, Archimedes, theorized that with a long
enough lever and the right fulcrum, a man could single-handedly move the
world. Your mindset is like your fulcrum while your belief is like your lever. By
shifting your mindset and extending your belief of what’s possible, you can
magnify your ability to create what originally seemed impossible.
We can use our brain to change how we process the world, and that in turn
changes how we react to it.
Happiness is not about lying to ourselves, or turning a blind eye to the
negative, but about adjusting our brain so that we see the ways to rise
above our circumstances.

6. PRINCIPLE #3:
THE TETRIS EFFECT
The Tetris Effect occurs when we spend so much time and attention on something that it changes our
thoughts, mental images and behaviours. It was named after the phenomenon of people seeing their world in
Tetris block after they’ve played the game for too long. Train your brain to see positive patterns, like
possibilities and opportunities, instead of the negatives like stress and failure.
Constantly scanning the world for the negative comes with a great cost. It undercuts our creativity,
raises our stress levels, and lowers our motivation and ability to accomplish goals.
Inattentional blindness: our frequent inability to see what is often right in front of us if we’re not
focusing directly on it.

7. PRINCIPLE #4:
FALLING UP
During crisis and failures, we typically have 3 mental paths to focus on. Learn to find the
third mental path that allows you to shift and emerge stronger and happier from setbacks.
Study after study shows that if we are able to conceive of a failure as an opportunity
for growth, we are all the more likely to experience that growth.
The people who can most successfully get themselves up off the mat are those who
define themselves not by what has happened to them, but by what they can make
out of what has happened.
Decades of subsequent study have since shown that explanatory style—how we
choose to explain the nature of past events—has a crucial impact on our happiness
and future success.
Adversities, no matter what they are, simply don’t hit us as hard as we think they will.

8. PRINCIPLE #5:
THE ZORRO CIRCLE
We find the best solutions when we can think clearly and creatively. Unfortunately,
in times of crisis, all logic goes out the window. Legend says that the masked hero,
Zorro, mastered the sword by training in a small circle. The Zorro circle represents
our “circle of control.” When things are spiraling out of control, refocus on small,
manageable goals, then gradually expand your circle as you rebuild your
confidence and control.
One of the strongest drivers of both well-being and performance is feeling
that we are in control and that we are masters of our own fate at work and at
home.
Psychologists have found that these kinds of gains in productivity, happiness,
and health have less to do with how much control we actually have and more
with how much control we think we have.

9. PRINCIPLE #6:
THE 20-SECOND RULE
Almost everyone understands the value of a healthy diet, exercise and rest. Most people don’t do it though.
Even if you want to nurture positivity, it is very difficult to break existing habits to create lasting change. Use
the path of least resistance to replace bad habits with good ones.
Common sense is not common action.
The reason so many of us have trouble sustaining change is because we try to rely on willpower. The
more we use our willpower, the more worn-out it gets.
This invisible pull toward the path of least resistance can dictate more of our lives than we realize,
creating an impassible barrier to change and positive growth.

10. PRINCIPLE #7:
SOCIAL INVESMENT
In times of difficulty and stress, we need social support more. Yet we tend to bury ourselves in our work and
reduce our time with friends and family. Invest in social support, which is one of the biggest predictors of
success and happiness, and your greatest asset.
The more social support you have, the happier you are.
When over a thousand highly successful professional men and women were interviewed as they
approached retirement and asked what had motivated them the most, throughout their careers,
overwhelmingly they placed work friendships above both financial gain and individual status.

11. LEAD WITH THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE
Lead with the Happiness Advantage. Leaders can create huge ripple effects because
they can shape the company policies/culture, act as a role model and influence their
team members directly. Unfortunately, in many organizations, leaders dismiss the
need for happiness and even frown on people laughing or taking breaks from work.
The Happiness Advantage is a useful tool for motivating your team and
unlocking staff potential. By using small gestures (e.g. giving encouragement
or providing recreational options), you can generate positive feelings to
trigger the advantage. Google provides scooters, video games and gourmet
food for its staff while Toyota uses strength-based training. Coors Brewing
Company saw a return of >6x from its corporate fitness programs alone.
Leaders’ tone of voice and body language also impact others, e.g. a message
delivered with an angry, annoyed or indifferent tone could affect staff morale
and performance.