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Tag Archives: Happiness

Nov200925

The secret formula for a happy life

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. ~ Albert Schweitzer

I was thinking recently how France may have given the phrase laissez-faire capitalism to the world, but it has never subscribed to the sort of purist, free-market economic theory that has dominated in the US and Britain. No surprise then, that it was a French president who asked two Nobel prize-winning economists – Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen – to think about how levels of happiness might become an important economic indicator.

The idea does have some supporters in Britain who have argued that a narrow focus on GDP is a poor target for economic policy. But the debate is about to become especially relevant. The UK’s recession will be formally declared over at some point soon; yet those suffering the misery of unemployment (expected to continue rising well into next year) are hardly likely to be jumping for joy, and it’s quite possible that the bad news of their plight will be lost in a maelstrom of headlines about an economic recovery.

Were we to worship at shrines other than GDP growth, as the French are now considering, unemployment might become more noticeable – and more ruthlessly tackled.

So if GDP isn’t a great indicator for happiness in life then what is? Well, it boils down to this:

Pleasure + flow + meaning = happiness

Flow

Challenge vs skill The secret formula for a happy life

With this formula the fleeting and passing nature of pleasure sticks around for longer. By this I mean if you are really engaged, focuses and engaged in what you do then you’ll enter a state of flow. You know you’re in a state of flow because:

are completely focused on the task at hand;
forget about yourself, about others, about the world around you;
lose track of time;
feel happy and in control; and
become creative and productive.

Nine factors as accompanying an experience of flow:

Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.
Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
Distorted sense of time, one’s subjective experience of time is altered.
Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

However, beware as too much engagement can lead to obsession, for example, you become a workaholic and your life balance becomes unsynchronised.

Meaning

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep…
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest

The meaning of your life has to come from within you, rather then it be imposed on you by others. This is what’s called living an authentic life. While we adapt quickly to more money and material possessions, it seems we adapt less quickly, if at all, to meaningful things. This is also a vital component of contentment, because essentially you are not connected to your innermost self.

Without that connection, it’s hard to feel a true meaning in some part of your life, and without the connection it’s hard to feel happiness, other than the transient pleasure from time to time as described earlier, that most of us have mistaken for real happiness.

France: GDP Stays, Happiness Too Hard to Pin Down (abcnews.go.com)
Sarkozy Adds to Calls for GDP Alternative (blogs.wsj.com)
The economics of happiness (smlxtralarge.com)
When it comes to life, love and true happiness, Sarkozy is leading the way (guardian.co.uk)

Jul200921

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Promote Your Brand

: Image by qa.manager via Flickr

Getting recognition at work is all about helping others to see what your unique contribution is. You may feel that selling yourself and your skills is egotistical, especially if you tend to be naturally modest about your achievements. Perhaps you tend to hide your ‘light’ and find that over time you begin to feel a little resentful that people don’t always notice or appreciate your good work. Or you may take the opposite view and grab the limelight as often as you can, only to find that those around you push you back down into place. Getting the balance right is tricky. You may feel that you have to adopt a different work persona and play office politics to be successful, but the truth is that most people hate spin, and the last place they want to have to deal with it is at work.

In what ways do you put up a façade at work?
Do you sometimes present a show of blustery confidence when you’re really quaking in your boots? At times this is helpful, but at other times it may prevent you from getting the support you need. If you manage staff, do you think you always need to know the answer to every problem?
What impact does this have for you and the team, on those occasions when you don’t know the best solution?
How can you present an authentic you at work and maintain the respect of others?

Think of yourself as a business. What are your unique selling points?Yes, you have skills, but how do you package and present these skills to the world in a way that is unique to you? Getting used to thinking about how you project your personal brand can help you to develop versatility. After all, you are uniquely your brand and you can also change that brand as you wish, according to the ‘market’ you’re in. So you may choose to display your more extrovert image in a meeting or you may let people see your reflective, thoughtful side, depending upon your audience and what’s required.