Book Review: “The Happiness Advantage”

• "Just as your mindset about work affects your performance, so too does your mindset about your own ability. What I mean is that the more you believe in your own ability to succeed, the more likely it is that you will."
• "Remind yourself of the relevant skills you have, rather than those you lack. Think of a time you have been in a similar circumstance in the past and performed well."
• "Optimism, it turns out, is a tremendously powerful predictor of work performance. Studies have shown that optimists set more goals (and more difficult goals) than pessimists, and put more effort into attaining those goals, stay more engaged in the face of difficulty, and rise above obstacles more easily."

Our Brains Create Our Reality

• "Once we realize how much our reality depends on how we view it, it comes as less of a surprise that our external circumstances predict only about 10 percent of our total happiness."
• "Researchers have found that even the smallest tasks can be imbued with greater meaning when they are connected to personal goals and values."
• "The expectations we have about our children, co-workers, and spouses—whether or not they are ever voiced—can make that expectation a reality."
  • "This phenomenon is called the Pygmalion Effect: when our belief in another person's potential brings that potential to life."
  • "[E]mployees typically become the kind of worker their manager expects them to be...This is a shining example of a self-fulfilling prophecy: People act as we expect them to act."
• "[S]cientists now know that the brain remains plastic and malleable well past the age of 20, through even our most senior years. That means that we have the power to create new habits and then reap the benefits whether we're 22 or 72."

Overcoming Adversity

• "The people who can most successfully get themselves up off the mat are those who define themselves not by what has happened to the, but by what they can make out of what has happened."
• "Adversities, no matter what they are, simply don't hit us as hard as we think they will. Just knowing this quirk of human psychology—that our fear of consequences is always worse than the consequences themselves—can help us move toward a more optimistic interpretation of the downs we will inevitably face."
• "For example, we might assume that a horrible injury would forever alter our ability to be happy, but in fact, after an initial adjustment and period of hardship, most victims of paralysis bounce back to just about the same level of happiness they experienced before. Simply speaking, the human psyche is so much more resilient than we even realize."

Investing in Relationships

• "Turns out, there was one—and only one—characteristic that distinguished the happiest 10 percent from everybody else: the strength of their social relationships. My empirical study of well-being among 1,600 Harvard undergraduates found a similar result—social support was a far greater predictor of happiness than any other factor, more than GPA, family income, SAT scores, age, gender, or race."
• "We have such a biological need for social support, our bodies can literally malfunction without it. For instance, lack of social contact can add 30 points to an adult's blood pressure reading."
• "In fact, researchers have found that social support has as much effect on life expectancy as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and regular physical activity."