I decided to repost this message from a few years ago. It may be just what you need to boost your thinking and positively impact the thinking of others.
Shawn Achor* studied and worked for 12 years at Harvard. It became clear to him that the students who fretted the most did the worst and were susceptible to more stress and depression.
Per Achor, the Ancient Greeks defined happiness as: The joy we feel striving for our potential.
There’s joy in learning when we choose to view it that way. Achor talked with poor school children and influential leaders in Africa. He was surprised at how happy the kids were in school. Why were they happy? Because they viewed getting an education as a privilege.
At Harvard, the privileged kids who were always worrying about grades, focusing on fear and lack instead of enjoying learning and exploring, were miserable and did poorly. Their outlook negatively affected their brain.
We’ve all experienced frustration and fear of failure with some roles and projects. Maybe you’re going through that now.
What can you do to improve your brainpower? This will take just 2 minutes and can significantly impact you now and for the rest of your life. Many people (including me) have difficulty meditating. Our brain is so active, always multi-tasking, it’s hard to quiet it. But we can do this.
Achor said: “Here’s what we found: For two minutes, watching their breath go in and out –literally two minutes — it gave their brain a new pattern…. [It went from] multitasking to single-task…. Their happiness levels improved, their stress dropped, and, amazingly, the stress of the people around them dropped as well. It starts to cause this chain reaction.”
Wouldn’t you like that? Let’s do it. Set the timer on your phone for 2 minutes. Focus on your breath going in and out. Do it daily. Because, done regularly, the 2 minutes can positively impact your brain, raise your intelligence level, increase your energy and creativity.
*Shawn Achor authored The Happiness Advantage / How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life. You may also enjoy Achor being interviewed by Oprah on Super Soul Sunday in 2018. He created and taught the most popular class at Harvard, which became known as The Happiness Class and led to him sharing his learnings with leaders all over the world.
