The term “science of happiness” implies there is a formula and that you can follow a scientific method of discovery to determine what makes you happy. The formula for “happy” for each of us is different because there are so many factors that contribute to individual happiness.
I’ll be Karen Ellenbecker’s guest on her weekly educational non-traditional investment radio program titled Money Sense.
My guest spot on Money Sense can be heard in the greater Milwaukee metro area this Sunday, September 16th, from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM CST.
Listen live via the Web at: (10:00 AM PST, 11:00 AM MST, 12:00 Noon CST, 1:00 PM EST)
Can the achievement of happiness be predicted in any meaningful sense? Simply put, yes it can. If you have close (safe, nurturing, comforting) personal relationships and fulfilling work to do, and you know yourself and what you are about, you can predict that you will have enough good things in your life to bring you lasting happiness. No life is without conflict, pain or even moments of fear, but overall happiness counter-balances all the trials and challenges life hands you. If you have those things working in your life that generate a bone-deep level of happiness you have an automatic cushion against getting bounced on your ear by the unexpected.
We often hear people say, “Don’t settle for second best.” But if we really look at our lives, I bet a lot of what we have around us is second best.
There are a lot of reasons we settle, and sometimes they’re good reasons, at least temporarily. The problem comes when we forget that this settling was temporary, and that we had something big planned for the future. We get stuck in our settlement, and can’t find our way out.
Ok … you have all your productivity tools in place. You have a rock-solid time management system. You have a seemingly-workable plan. But something isn’t quite right. You feel that, now, more than ever, you’re being stretched beyond your limits.
Maybe what’s missing isn’t all the tools and techniques. Maybe it’s your strategy.
With the Labor Day Holiday approaching, we all think about a weekend of leisure, whether that means a slow-paced Friday through Monday of solitude and barbecues, or an action-packed one of friends, parties, and go-go-go!
What Labor Day means on the calendar, however, is that summer vacations are over, people are back in the office, and it’s time to get things accomplished.
As you contemplate the number of hours you’ll be spending on your work in the months ahead, do you dread the thought? Will you have a mountain of work to do, yet still take on more with a smile (maybe forced) on your face? Will people be pulling you in every direction?
Bob Sutton, creator of the No Asshole Rule, posted Wednesday 8 suggestions for “enduring and triumphing against abusive bosses and co-workers” titled Latest Tips for Surviving Workplace Assholes.
Negative people, places, and situations can have a detrimental effect on your life. Similarly to seemingly insurmountable workplace obstacles and situations, in the form of people and situations, there are no instant fixes for these sorts of problems in our private lives, either.
Imagine my surprise when I picked up a copy on My Midwest Magazine, the in-flight monthly of Midwest Airlines, to find an article titled Smooth Landing quoting the Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk.
Why was I taken aback? I’m a Penelope Trunk reader, after all. I shouldn’t have been caught unaware, as she’s featured in many publications and sites. What struck me was the topic: Getting back to work after your vacation is over.
I will present present Slow Down FAST – 5 Secrets to Success: How to Begin Living YOUR Life YOUR Way in a groundbreaking FREE teleseminar event on Tuesday evening, September 11th.
According to a recent study of 1,148 adults nearly two thirds of parents say they don’t spend enough time with their children, while half say they must make their job a top priority – even if it affects their family life.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
David B. Bohl used to work 100 hours a week. His family took a backseat to his fast-moving, high-paying career, and he eventually paid the price in the form of exhaustion, stress and a non-existent family life. Bohl has since recovered from this work fanatic, pressure cooker life and has done a complete 180. He now focuses completely on his values, beliefs and ideals, and as a result enjoys total life balance between work and family, and coaches people on how to do the same.
I’ve talked and written many times about efficiency. As a result, I was intrigued by this comment over at lifehacker:
“My problem wasn’t that I was insufficiently efficient. The problem was
that I was way too overextended. I had taken on more than even a very
efficient person could handle. Efficiency is great, but it can only get
you so far.”
I understand the problem. Many of us find (or should I say “get ourselves into”) ourselves overextended, over strained, and overstressed at some point in our lives, maybe even at this very moment.
In these times, is the solution to our troubles that we need to be more efficient? I think not.
Alexander Kjerulf is a Chief Happiness Officer. He believes that in order to be happy at work we should stop putting up with unhappy workplaces,
All these years when adults have been trying to speak to their children and they have been interrupted by sounds of text messaging, computer programs,
OK, there’s something that you really, really want. You’re absolutely yearning for it with all of your soul and being. All you can think about is how much you want it. You ache for it and hunger for it. You become obsessed with it. You spend all of your waking hours thinking about it – consciously and subconsciously – and how to attain it. It consumes you.
You disregard your health – your diet, your sleep, your recreation, your personal time, your intellectual and creative nourishment. You rationalize that the things you’re doing in pursuit of this dream are for the good of all those involved in your life, yet you ignore them, erecting a wall between you and your partner, family, children, friends, and colleagues. Worse yet, you treat them in ways that leave in your wake a sea of emotional turmoil.
Slashes are people who pursue many careers at the same time, according to Marci Alboher who wrote the book One Person/Multiple Careers. Now that so
If your definition of living a happier life includes fulfillment, and a big part of that fulfillment is learning and growing, you may find a new book by Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, very interesting.
In her latest book, Mind-set: The New Psychology of Success, Professor Dweck discusses the issue of leadership, but not in the traditional sense – she doesn’t debate whether leaders are born or made. Dweck looks at precisely how you think about issues like this one to determine what makes you a better or a worse leader.
Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert, University of Virginia psychologist Tim Wilson, Carnegie-Mellon economist George Loewenstein, and Princeton Psychologist Dan Kahneman have been studying the question: “What
Generation Xers and Yers are being recognized for changing traditional views of the workplace. The new generations of workers are standing up for “The American
