Comments on: Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change

By: John Chancellor "Mentor coach"

John Chancellor "Mentor coach" — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 14:29:26 +0000

Insights on Happiness If you Google “Investment advice” you will get over one hundred and fifty million different sites to check out. If you were to investigate just a few, you would find much conflicting information. Do the same for “happiness” and you get even more sites and more conflicting information. One of the problems we have today is that we are bombarded with information – but so much of it is conflicting. Most of us are lacking an objective method of separating the helpful from the noise.Shawn Achor, the author of Before Happiness, is a highly acclaimed positive psychologist. He is also the author of a previous book – The Happiness Advantage. His passion is the study of happiness – discovering what really leads to happiness and also discovering those things that block our way.In Before Happiness, he gives us 5 key methods to better understand how we can create more happiness in our own lives and the lives of those around us.The first key is to understand that we create our own reality by what we focus on. We can choose to focus on the negative things in life or we can choose to take a more positive approach. He is not advocating irrational optimism – which he says is delusional. “Your reality is a choice; what you choose to focus on shapes how you perceive and interpret your world.”The second key is the meaning we assign to things in life – Mr. Achor calls them meaning markers. You will learn how to set better goals based on what is meaningful to you and your life.The third key is what he calls the X-Spot. This concept is best illustrated by the kick a marathon runner gets when they see the finish line in sight. They get a burst of energy to finish the race. It does not matter what goal you set, when you near the goal, you get a boost in your energy level. One of the lessons to take from this is to set near-term goals. Setting more and shorter goals will increase the number of X-Spots and will move you quicker toward your goal.The fourth key is noise cancelling. When you do a Google search, you get lots of information – some good – and Mr. Achor calls them signals and some not that good which he calls noise. There are four keys to separating signals from noise. Can you use the information to alter your current behavior? If not, it is noise. Are you going to use the information immediately? Is the information hypothetical? Just someone’s opinion? If so, it’s noise. Does it distract you from your goals? If so, it’s noise.You will note that most “news programs” are mostly noise. So is gossip and many TV programs. Learn to cut down the noise in your life.The fifth key is to spread the positive mindset you have created with the other four keys.This book is a delight to read, filled with many interesting examples based on extensive and up to date research in the field of positive psychology. For anyone truly interested in learning more about happiness and what you need to do to bring more happiness into your life and your work, this is a valuable resource.Mr. Achor writes with a real sense of humor – something he says we all need to bring more happiness into our lives. He also shares many personal stories from his own experiences that help illustrate his points. Very insightful and informative as well as entertaining.

By: taaj

taaj — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 14:02:21 +0000

This is Brilliant I’ve read several books on positive psychology. It’s a rather simple concept so I didn’t expect this to be particularly ground breaking. It’s actually quite brilliant. It seems as though Achor observed, “Hm, this positive psychology stuff doesn’t work for everybody. Why?” or perhaps, “There is something more here. I wonder what it could be?” then set out to find the answers. The book is about the reality shift that comes before happiness and success are possible. It explains (to me) why some people can express gratitude, sleep, exercise, attend to relationships and do all the things that are supposed to lead to success and happiness, but don’t actually get there.This book provides the missing link and removes the mystery. It gives concrete steps to changing the mindset that makes happiness possible. It has expanded my way of thinking and made me more effective in work and in life. It’s a great resource for everyone. Highly recommended!

By: Nancy Loderick "Internet strategist"

Nancy Loderick "Internet strategist" — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:57:38 +0000

What you need to do before you are truly happy As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more focused on doing what makes me happy and fulfilled, rather than doing what others’ think I should be doing. This is the second book that I’ve read about happiness, the first being Gretchen Rubin’s, “The Happiness Project.” I didn’t care for Gretchen’s book because I felt it was all about Gretchen whining. I am happy to say that I loved this book!I really enjoyed this book. Here’s why:* Shawn’s practical advice and exercises on how to think about your happiness. Sure, I’ve read lots of self-improvement books, but this was one of the few where the exercises really resonated with me. He breaks it down into 5 steps or skills: 1. Choosing the Most Valuable Reality 2. Mapping Your Success Route 3. Finding Success Accelerants 4. Eliminating Negative Noise 5. Transferring Your Positive Reality to Others.* Shawn makes the concepts reality by his concrete examples. For example, I love the idea of mapping your life, e.g. your current workplace or city. It forces you to really think about your environment and what is important to you.* The nice mixture of research showing happiness factors and Shawn’s personal stories. It makes Shawn appear very sincere. He obviously believes in this stuff.* The down to earth style. It’s as though Shawn is sitting down and having a conversation with you about happiness.* It inspired me to dig deeper. Of course, I’m going to read Shawn’s first book, “The Happiness Advantage.” I’m also going to read the other books he suggests. I just love it when one book leads me to a lot of others on the same topic.I’m glad that I read this book before his first book, “The Happiness Advantage,” since this book gives a good framework for finding your true happiness.I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to lead a more fulfilling life.