Now I realize that I want Leo to be like my father. I don't just want him to be happy, but also to make everyone around him happier. To not only be creative, but to make everyone around him more creative. To not only be successful, but to make everyone around him more successful. I don't just want him to be a bright light; I want him to make others shine brighter as well.
The decision to use recognition as an on-the-spot bonus instead of merely pay increases is a fascinating one, because pay increases can create new mental anchors for how much the person feels happy earning, whereas the social recognition program is ongoing, unexpected, and harder to form a mental anchor around.
Success does not mean happiness. Check out any celebrity magazine to look for examples to disabuse you of thinking that being beautiful, successful or rich will make you happy.
I once stayed at a Ritz in D.C., paid for by a client, and when I asked to change rooms because mine smelled of smoke, the hotel immediately found me a better room, then paid for my dinner and drinks and even threw in a free massage to compensate me for the very minor inconvenience.
The greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy is a positive and engaged brain.
What we've been finding is people are afraid of happiness. They're afraid of happiness because they think we'll stagnate or we'll be blind: that if I'm happy now, I won't keep fighting as hard. If I'm happy now, I won't push as hard to make a better world. That's what pleasure does. Joy does the exact opposite.
Joy makes us want to invest more deeply in the people around us. It makes us want to learn more about our communities. It makes us want to be able to find ways of being able to make this a better external world for all of us.
Traveling the world can be an amazing - and even better - a happy experience. You just have to do it the right way.
Our daily decisions and habits have a huge impact upon both our levels of happiness and success.
Taking a vacation can actually increase the likelihood of getting a raise or a promotion.
To be truly engaged at work, your brain needs periodic breaks to gain fresh perspective and energy.
The more we can lower or even eliminate the activation energy for our desired actions, the more we enhance our ability to jump-start positive change.
For me, meditation's hard because I feel like I have developed 'cultural attention-deficit disorder,' where, because we have so much stimulation, I feel like I have trouble focusing on things for very long. So when I try to meditate, my brain gets so scattered.
Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its finite resources as you process the world.
We sometimes think that the best doctors are the ones who have the most specialized knowledge or the fanciest degrees, but in fact, study upon study, including one published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine,' show that the best doctors are the ones who also know how to connect with their patients.
Too many people limit their happiness and success by assuming that taking time off from work will send a negative message to their manager and slow their career advancement.
Turnover can be one of the most expensive problems at a company.
Smart vacations lead to greater happiness and energy at work and, therefore, greater productivity, intelligence, and resilience.
