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The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work QUOTES

The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work QUOTES

161 " what we spend our time and mental energy focusing on can indeed become our reality. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

162 " in both academic and business settings, these same benefits persist throughout our adult lives. For instance, students who were told to think about the happiest day of their lives right before taking a standardized math test outperformed their peers.19 And people who expressed more positive emotions while negotiating business deals did so more efficiently and successfully than those who were more neutral or negative.20 "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

163 " It’s not the weight of the world that determines what we can accomplish. It is our fulcrum and lever. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

164 " As my mentor Tal Ben-Shahar likes to say, “things do not necessarily happen for the best, but some people are able to make the best out of things that happen. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

165 " By scanning our mental map for positive opportunities, and by rejecting the belief that every down in life leads us only further downward, we give ourselves the greatest power possible: the ability to move up not despite the setbacks, but because of them. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

166 " eudaimonia, "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

167 " If all you strive for is diminishing the bad, you’ll only attain the average and you’ll miss out entirely on the opportunity to exceed the average. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

168 " researchers concluded that feeling a lack of control over pressure at work is as great a risk factor for heart disease as even high blood pressure. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

169 " The best leaders are the ones who show their true colors not during the banner years, but during such times of struggle. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

170 " These principles worked just as well for creating change for me in a personal crisis as they did for creating change for employees in the economic crisis. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

171 " When we make a positive social connection, the pleasure-inducing hormone oxytocin is released into our bloodstream, immediately reducing anxiety and improving concentration and focus. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

172 " the research and experiences of privileged American college students and wealthy, powerful business leaders seemed inappropriate. So I tried to open a dialogue. Struggling for points of common experience, I asked in a very clearly tongue-in-cheek tone, “Who here likes to do schoolwork?” I thought the seemingly universal distaste for schoolwork would bond us together. But to my shock, 95 percent of the children raised their hands and started smiling genuinely and enthusiastically. Afterward, I jokingly asked Salim why the children of Soweto were so weird. “They see schoolwork as a privilege,” he replied, “one that many of their parents did not have.” When I returned to Harvard two weeks later, I saw students complaining about the very thing the Soweto students saw as a privilege. I started to realize just how much our interpretation of reality changes our experience of that reality. The students who were so focused on the stress and the pressure—the ones who saw learning as a chore—were missing out on all the opportunities right in front of them. But those who saw attending Harvard as a privilege seemed to shine even brighter. Almost unconsciously at first, and then with ever-increasing interest, I became fascinated with what caused those high potential individuals to develop a positive mindset to excel, especially in such a competitive "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

173 " The point is "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

174 " In a study performed by Margaret Shih and her colleagues at Harvard, a group of Asian women were given similar math tests on two separate occasions.7 The first time around, they were primed to think about the fact that they were women, stereotypically worse at math than men. The second time around, they were told to focus on their identity as Asians, generally thought to be math whizzes compared to other ethnic groups. The result: The women performed far better in the second situation than they did in the first. Their math IQs hadn’t changed and neither had the difficulty of the questions. But in the second instance they believed more in their ability, and this was enough to make a substantive difference in performance. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

175 " we all know that we should exercise, sleep eight hours, eat healthier, and be kind to others. But does this common knowledge make doing these things any easier? Of course not. Because in life, knowledge is only part of the battle. Without action, knowledge is often meaningless. As Aristotle put it, to be excellent we cannot simply think or feel excellent, we must act excellently. Yet the action required to follow through on what we know is often the hardest part. That’s why even though doctors know better than anyone the importance of exercise and diet, 44 percent of them are overweight. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

176 " Afterward, I jokingly asked Salim why the children of Soweto were so weird. “They see schoolwork as a privilege,” he replied, “one that many of their parents did not have.” When I returned to Harvard two weeks later, I saw students complaining about the very thing the Soweto students saw as a privilege. I started to realize just how much our interpretation of reality changes our experience of that reality. The students who were so focused on the stress and the pressure—the ones who saw learning as a chore—were missing out on all the opportunities right in front of them. But those who saw attending Harvard as a privilege seemed to shine even brighter. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

177 " Neuroscientists have found that financial losses are actually processed in the same areas of the brain that respond to mortal danger. "

― Shawn Achor , The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work