Learn to create resilience and happiness no matter what’s going on in your life
In these tough times, there are few people who are completely happy with the current conditions. From business executives to the everyday Joe or Jane, everyone seems to be going through a rough economic and personal crunch. But acclaimed business school Professor Srikumar Rao says that we can learn to create joy no matter what else may be going on around us.
Rao shows you that it isn’t the negative thing that happens to you that causes your unhappiness, it’s how you see it. Happiness at Work is a thought-provoking new title that moves the mind away from negativity and forces you to resist labeling situations as “bad”, but rather seeing them as neutral.
Happiness at Work provides:
- Surprising ways of looking at change and problem-solving
- Exercises that shift one’s perspective
Learn the vital wisdom necessary to achieving a joyful, successful life as you define it through greater resilience and a strong inner core. Get it now with The Happiness Choice.
“Follow Srikumar Rao’s instructions and you will enjoy the journey to more happiness and meaning in your life, no matter what!”
–Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
“Happiness at Work brings new understanding of the essential role happiness plays in workplace learning and performance. Srikumar Rao’s guidelines for our journey to leadership include aspects rarely explored and newly significant.”
–Frances Hesselbein, chairman and founding president, Leader to Leader Institute/Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management
“This book is a treasure chest full of wisdom. Each and every one of its 34 chapters introduced me to or reminded me of a very important principle for living a happy and successful life.”
–Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series and coauthor of The Success Principles
Get Ready to Change Your Life Srikumar S. Rao, Ph.D., teaches his ideas about how people can experience more fulfilling lives, both personally and professionally, in an MBA-level class called “Creativity and Personal Mastery”, which has been taught at the Columbia Business School, the London Business School, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, among others.Dr. Rao got his MBA from a top school in India, and his Ph.D. in marketing from Columbia University. Having read a lot of spiritual and mystical biographies, he decided to find a way to make those teachings applicable to work and to the corporate world. For those who are skeptical of his teachings, he simply asks them to complete the exercises and apply the concepts for a period of time, and then to evaluate whether their lives have improved.Below you’ll find four happiness exercises taught by Dr. Rao to his MBA students, and which he shares with the world at large in his wonderful book, “Happiness at Work”.1. The “If … Then” ModelHappiness, explains Dr. Rao, is an underlying sense of well-being. He adds that it’s feeling, “I’m OK, I will always be OK, there is nothing that needs to happen for me to be OK, and there is nothing that can happen that will stop me from being OK”. In addition, he explains that this is our natural state of being, but we obscure it by thinking that something external has to happen in order for us to be happy.He recommends that people try the following exercise in order to delve deeper into the question, “What do I need to be happy?”. Take out a piece of a paper and ask yourself what you need in order to be happy. Really think about it. Then, begin writing. You might find that you write down things such as those included in the list below.I’ll be happy when: * I start making more money. * I find a life partner. * I have a child. * I get my degree. * I change jobs, or I get a promotion. * I have more leisure time. * I lose weight. * I get to go on vacation to Paris. * I get recognition for my work. * My book gets published. * I move to a bigger apartment. * My child starts doing better in school. * My spouse gets a job. * All my debts are finally paid off.Once you’ve completed your list, look at it. Then get a red marker. As you read each item you’ve written down, draw a line across it with the red marker. Do this with all of the items you wrote down. Recognize that you don’t need any of those things in order to be happy.Dr. Rao explains that there is nothing you have to get in order to be happy. He adds that anything that you can get, you can “un-get”. That is, you can lose it. Are you going to make your happiness contingent on getting something you may or may not get, and which you might lose once you get it? Happiness is something that’s innately within you. Happiness does not have to be acquired or achieved.When asked whether people should set goals, Dr. Rao responds that goals are important, because they give direction to your life. The flaw in setting goals is making your happiness depend on achieving your goals: if I achieve this goal, then I’ll be happy. Dr. Rao adds that what matters is the process of working toward the achievement of your goals, not the outcome. He recommends that you adopt the following attitude: * If you achieve your goal, you’ll be fine. * If you don’t achieve your goal, you’ll also be fine.In addition, Dr. Rao points out that there’s a paradox in that it’s more likely that you’ll get what you want once you stop insisting that things happen in a certain way.2. Stop Labeling Things as “Bad” “Be generous using the good label, and be extremely stingy using the bad label.” Dr. RaoDr. Rao explains that we have a tendency to label everything that happens to us as either “good” or “bad”. In addition, we use the “bad” label anywhere from 3 to 10 times more often than the “good” label. He recommends that we stop using the “bad” label. If something extreme happens which you can’t get yourself to label as “good”, then, at the very least, stop yourself from labeling it as “bad”.Dr. Rao gives four reasons for his recommendation. They’re explained below.A. The “Bad” Label Limits Your Ability to Notice OpportunitiesOnce you refuse to label something as “bad”, it opens you up to noticing possibilities that you wouldn’t have considered otherwise. Dr. Rao gives losing your job as an example:If you think about losing your job as an opportunity to find something better that brings you greater joy and fulfillment-instead of looking at it as a bad thing-you’re better off. This is because your mind looks for evidence to…
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