Did you know that success is a product of happiness – not the other way ‘round?
According to former Harvard professor and author Shawn Achor, we’ve been thinking about success and happiness backward for millennia; that hard work and success will lead to happiness. As he explains in his book The Happiness Advantage, and this highly entertaining Ted Talk, such thinking is exactly the wrong path to success – and happiness.
With more than a dozen years of research into positive thinking to back him up, Achor is an advocate for cultivating a positive mindset as the key to happiness, which will make success a virtual given. Not only that but, further research by Achor and others has gathered evidence that changing one’s mindset about stress changes the physical effects of stress.
The Science of a Happiness Mindset
Research done at Harvard has shown that your negative reaction to stress can be changed, through methods of positive thinking and improved stress management techniques and skills. In other words, if you train yourself to see stressful situations as challenges to be met rather than walls to stop you, a situation to overcome rather than an impossible barrier, you are far more likely to experience “good” stress rather than “bad” stress in that situation.
You see, in virtually every stressful situation your body will respond in a certain way: an elevated heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, faster breathing, muscle tension, and increased perspiration. This is your body’s natural response to the need to act; the “fight or flight” response in all of us.
However, in the case of negative stress, your blood vessels will also contract and your trepidation will grow. Conversely, in a positive stress situation, your blood vessels remain open and your brain offers a chemical response as well, releasing the same hormone (dopamine) that surges through your body when you experience joy!
You see, your brain works far more efficiently, in virtually every situation, when you approach each day with a positive attitude. This means a positive outlook leads to increased success; or rather, that your inherent happiness empowers you to work harder, faster, and more intelligently.
As a result, the old maxim that, “If I work harder I’ll be more successful, and if I’m more successful then I’ll be happier”, is turned on its head; for the opposite is true! Happiness leads to increased productivity and greater success!
It’s this type of positive mindset for which I advocate, and that I outline, in my FATE Blueprint Workbook; a path to help you view stress in a more positive, more useful way, and to discover your own power to deal with stress more effectively, leading you to a more positive outlook and mindset.
If you’re having trouble convincing yourself to think positively about your body’s stress response, get in touch with me today for help coping with stress.
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