Happiness is my competitive advantage.

Happiness has a positive ROI — pun intended. We learn from positive psychology research that happy individuals are more successful and companies with higher employee satisfaction earn more revenue. Happiness boosts creativity, resilience, health, and much more. Instead of thinking money makes us happy, it seems that happiness makes us money. We learn from happiness research that there are 5 daily habits that can increase our overall happiness. I dare say that practicing happiness is the key to success, not the other way around. Happiness is my competitive advantage — and it can be yours, too! Read on and practice along with me…

“We are what we repeatedly do. [Happiness], then, is not an act, but a habit.”

— Will Durant (as edited by Cate Johnson)

Today’s Design Challenge: How might we incorporate daily habits that are scientifically proven to increase our happiness?

Positivity Scan. The first habit is about shifting our focus from bad to good. Whether it’s turning on the news, opening your Facebook feed, or even listening to the chatter around the water cooler, the majority of the “news” we hear is negative. Our attention is our greatest currency and we can train our brains to focus on good things happening around the world and grow the energy going toward them. How are you going about searching for happiness and how are you sharing what you learn and experience?

Happiness habit hack: The next time someone asks how you are, first share something positive before you vent about what may be stressing you out. Not only does this get us in a more positive frame of mind, but it also gives that gift to those around us (more on that later!).

Joyful Movement. The second habit is physical. When I first introduced a Happiness Advantage SkillShare at my office, I called this habit “Exercise” and asked everyone to get up our of their seat and do 10 jumping jacks, 10 squats, and 10 push-ups right then and there. Looking around, no one was happy. (Oops!) Always up for a good healthy creative pivot, I iterated on this habit and renamed it “Joyful Movement”. Maybe it’s dancing or swimming, yoga or tai chi, maybe it’s endurance running, hiking, or downhill skiing. And maybe it really is squats and push-ups! Whatever it may be for you, find time for more joyful movement in each day. Athletes know that even visualizing their movements gives their brain a similar training experience and helps boost performance. So go and watch the Tour de France and cheer on a football match if that’s what you love. Even if you can’t always be out there, focus your attention on joyful movement and imagine you’re on the field, too!

Happiness habit hack: Pause and reflect what movements bring you joy. How might you incorporate more of them in your daily life? Can you do them now?!

Mindful Meditation. The third habit is to take a few minutes from the fast pace and loudness of life to be quiet and still. The benefits of meditation can be massive and have gotten a lot of great, happy press recently. Despite this, I sometimes find it challenging to keep up a consistent, daily meditation habit during the week. Once my coffee is brewed I am ready to split and get out into the world. I log into my computer and very quickly find myself with 15 different tabs open on 2 or more browser windows. Instead of shaming myself that I can’t get up earlier, or that there’s something wrong with being excited about multiple things at once, I have decided to go with my natural flow and — gasp — open another tab! I’ve found an innovative way to to incorporate meditation into my computer time through this website: www.donothingfor2minutes.com.

(Here’s a secret: I just paused and did a 2 minute meditation while writing this!)

I find that pausing for just 2 minutes gives me the right amount of time to take a few deep breaths, center and ground my energy, and I can quickly return to work refreshed. Meditation doesn’t have to last hours and it can happen anywhere you want it to. Remember momentum begins with just a moment.

Happiness habit hack: I challenge you to click on (and bookmark!) www.donothingfor2minutes.com and try it today. And perhaps tomorrow, too!

Recording Gratitudes. Our forth habit lets us celebrate! Many times I incorporate or connect this habit to another — gratitude for a healthy body I can move, gratitude for a moment of peace, gratitude for good things happening in the world. Similar to scanning the news for positivity, taking time to reflect on the blessings in our lives will train our brains to look for them. It directs our attention toward what is going well, instead of sending energy toward the things we dislike. Somewhat different than scanning the world happy news, we have a direct personal connection to our gratitudes. If our happiness was a garden, gratitude is definitely the fertilizer that makes things grow!

Happiness habit hack: Write down 3 things you are grateful for right in this moment — or say them out loud. Bring gratitude into your daily practice.

Kind Acts. Our final habit reminds us that we’re not in this alone. Now that we’ve scanned for the positive, moved joyfully, taken deep breaths to ground ourselves and shared gratitudes, it’s time to connect outwardly. Much of the positive psychology research about gift giving isn’t focused about the benefits of receiving gifts. It’s about the giving side. The Cleveland Clinic actually calls it a “helpers high” and research out of Harvard and UCSD demonstrates the inertia of even small acts of kindness!

“When people benefit from kindness they “pay it forward” by helping others who were not originally involved, and this creates a cascade of cooperation that influences dozens more in a social network.” — UCSD News

Happiness habit hack: Add more kindness to your day. What acts of kindness have you received and how did they make you feel? How might you return that positive energy to others, knowing that the more we give, the more we receive!

Much of this article was inspired by Shawn Achor’s talk at TEDxBloomington, The Happy Secret to Better Work. I would be remiss not to credit him and this work. Thank you, Shawn! Also check out his book, The Happiness Advantage.

About the author: Cate feels most herself — and happiest — when surrounded by trees. She is on a mission to connect leaders to natural solutions by immersion in wilderness and inspiration from nature’s beauty. Find out more about Cate on her website: www.catebjohnson.com.

Want to collaborate? Email me: cate@catebjohnson.com