A few weeks ago I decided to run a LinkedIn poll, after I had read Daniel Nettle’s book ‘Happiness – the science behind the smile’. I enjoyed it and found it easy to ‘consume’. One thing I discovered was that we all ‘sense’ happiness differently, and our environment could be a contributor to what we consider happiness. Even the notion of thinking about happiness can change our experience of life. So I asked the question “All things being considered do…
Tag Archives: Happiness
1,564,895 is just the beginning
As I sit at my desk under the RedBalloon scoreboard I can see that more than 1.5m people have now had a RedBalloon experience. I have written about our purpose and Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) on many occasions. I have declared on so many times ‘RedBalloon is changing gifting in Australia forever’. In reality that speaks about what we are doing – rather than ‘why’ we do what we do. It is now more than ten years since I…
Happy Versus Grumpy Poll
Where does happiness come from? Do you feel happier on a sunny day or a rainy day – or is there no difference? I’m running a poll to see how happy people say they are? I don’t want to predict the outcome of the poll – but you will see the results as soon as you vote. (I need 10,000 responses to get some good data on it.) There is much data about the economic notion of the ‘Happiness Index’…
‘Acting’ happy when you’re sad, a personal tale.
[First appeared in LinkedIn Thought Leaders] Isn’t it funny how life holds a mirror up to you? I have a colleague who has been on the journey of thanks with me from the start. I returned recently from an overseas trip to share what I’d learnt from Shawn Achor, the author of The Happiness Advantage, and the principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work, including the importance about being mindful about happiness. One of my colleagues…
Vivid Stories increase happiness
[First published on LinkedIn Thought Leaders on 4 October] “I found myself sitting in the cockpit of a small aircraft – it smelt like on old MG, my hair would have been blowing in the wind, as I belted down the runway except I had on a buggles hat with goggles. I was nervous and excited. The airplane, which was older than me, was shaking and rattling… until finally it lifted off the earth and calm prevailed. As it rose…
Happiness is not a dirty word at work – surely!
[This article first appeared as part of the LinkedIn Thought Leaders program - I will republish articles on my own blog - for the sake of putting all my thoughts in one place - the Linkedin posts will appear here a few days after they are first published.] One could argue that work is work and as such why should you expect to have a good time. I’d worked for a lot of large corporations, some better than others, before…
Five habits for creating long-term happiness.
Shawn Achor and I chatting at the final EO dinner in Istanbul Shawn Achor concluded his presentation, after telling why happiness is important, and sharing what happiness looks like – by telling the group actions that we can take to create long term happiness. He did warn; all the knowledge in the world does not necessarily mean that we will be in action. (We all know to stay healthy we need to be active and eat well – knowing this…
The numbers on why happiness is important
Perhaps I am posing a far too obvious question… but the thing I consider, is the effort and energy it takes to be happy, worth it? Perhaps it is easier to be grumpy, disconnected and uninspired…. the statistics however do not lie. Suicide remains a major external cause of death, accounting for more deaths in Australia than transport accidents. In addition about 20% of people will be affected by depression and 6% will experience a major depressive illness in Australia…
Three predictors for sustained happiness?
Listening to Shawn Achor at the Entrepreneur Organization was a delight. I had read his book – The Happiness Advantage years ago, when I began my journey to discover ‘this human condition’ of happiness. I’d watched his TED talk which has had more than 2million views (below)– and for want of a better word I would consider myself a fan. (Okay maybe I embarrassed myself a little when I approached him for a photo and I proceeded to be a…
Five ways to play a bigger game.
I’m currently at the Entrepreneurs Organization Conference in Istanbul. The theme for the event is transform, transcend, together. I attend these events because it gives me a chance to reflect on ‘what now’ – and also to be inspired by the 800 other entrepreneurs in attendance – each of them here because they want to ‘play a bigger game’ too. On my travels here I saw the following quote which got me thinking …. “Again, you can’t connect the dots…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
