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Happiness: HBR Emotional Intelligence Series
What is the nature of human happiness, and how do we achieve it in the course of our professional lives? And is it even worth pursuing?
This audiobook explores answers to these questions by presenting research into how happiness is measured, frameworks for personal behaviors, management techniques that build happiness in the workplace - and warnings that highlight where the happiness hype has been overblown.
This collection of articles from HBR includes: "Happiness Isn't the Absence of Negative Feelings", by Jennifer Moss; "Being Happy at Work Matters", by Annie McKee; "The Science Behind the Smile", an interview with Daniel Gilbert, by Gardiner Morse; "The Power of Small Wins", by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer; "Creating Sustainable Performance", by Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath; "The Research We've Ignored About Happiness at Work", by Andre Spice and Carl Cedarström; and "The Happiness Backlash", by Alison Beard.
Running Time => 2hrs. and 29mins.
©2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation (P)2020 Gildan Media
This audiobook explores answers to these questions by presenting research into how happiness is measured, frameworks for personal behaviors, management techniques that build happiness in the workplace - and warnings that highlight where the happiness hype has been overblown.
This collection of articles from HBR includes: "Happiness Isn't the Absence of Negative Feelings", by Jennifer Moss; "Being Happy at Work Matters", by Annie McKee; "The Science Behind the Smile", an interview with Daniel Gilbert, by Gardiner Morse; "The Power of Small Wins", by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer; "Creating Sustainable Performance", by Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath; "The Research We've Ignored About Happiness at Work", by Andre Spice and Carl Cedarström; and "The Happiness Backlash", by Alison Beard.
Running Time => 2hrs. and 29mins.
©2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation (P)2020 Gildan Media
Audible Audio
First published April 18, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
July 17, 2019
I appreciate the balance of essays surrounding happiness at the workplace, especially the last two providing counterarguments for overemphasis. I think the downside of having short essays is that they don't go as deeply as I would like, and therefore doesn't become memorable to me.
February 5, 2020
1. PERMA: 5 elements essential to lasting contentment:
- positive emotion
- engagement
- relationships
- meaning
- accomplishment/ achievement
2. Being happy at work matters. To be fully engaged and happy, we need 3 things:
- a meaningful vision of the future
- a sense of purpose
- great relationships
3. The power of the smile
4. The power of small wins
5. Creating sustainable performance: thriving, which includes vitality and learning
- 4 mechanisms that create the conditions for thriving employees: providing decision making discretion, sharing information, minimizing incivility, and offering performance feedback
- Individual strategies for thriving:
. Take a break
. Craft your own work to be more meaningful
. Look for opportunities to innovate and learn
. Invest in relationships that energize you
. Recognize that thriving can spill over outside the office
- positive emotion
- engagement
- relationships
- meaning
- accomplishment/ achievement
2. Being happy at work matters. To be fully engaged and happy, we need 3 things:
- a meaningful vision of the future
- a sense of purpose
- great relationships
3. The power of the smile
4. The power of small wins
5. Creating sustainable performance: thriving, which includes vitality and learning
- 4 mechanisms that create the conditions for thriving employees: providing decision making discretion, sharing information, minimizing incivility, and offering performance feedback
- Individual strategies for thriving:
. Take a break
. Craft your own work to be more meaningful
. Look for opportunities to innovate and learn
. Invest in relationships that energize you
. Recognize that thriving can spill over outside the office
October 20, 2021
To be honest, I picked this book up in Laguardia because my phone was low on battery and I needed to save what was left so I could order a Lyft when I got to my destination. That said, this book really surprised me. There is a diverse range of opinions on happiness, what it means to be happy, and where we should and end up searching for this long term fulfillment. It is a very quick read and great for traveling (no wonder they sell these in airports). While I probably won’t go out of my way for another one of these in my usual reading list, I do plan to download less Netflix episodes before my next flight and buy another one of these essay collections to read instead.
August 4, 2017
A nice, quick introduction to happiness, how to achieve it at work, and why that might be important for both employees and employers. (The general gist is that being happy results in more creativity and productivity on behalf of workers, and managers who think that employees work best when scared of negative consequences or worried about job security are totally wrong.)
There are two very brief essays at the end that take a negative view on happiness, but they seem to have been thrown in for some artificial sense of balance rather than because they say anything useful. One mainly protests that "happiness" is hard to define and that being content all the time is pointless--both arguments clearly addressed in the previous essays in the book, which one presumes the author of THIS essay should have been aware of. The other "happiness is bad" essay makes inane arguments like "You shouldn't expect your work to make you happy because if you're fired you're going to lose all that happiness and be a mess." That's basically like saying you shouldn't find happiness in a pet because eventually the pet will die, or you shouldn't find happiness in friends because friends sometimes leave or you just grow apart. Completely unconvincing, and I expected more research and better arguments, especially to close the book.
There are two very brief essays at the end that take a negative view on happiness, but they seem to have been thrown in for some artificial sense of balance rather than because they say anything useful. One mainly protests that "happiness" is hard to define and that being content all the time is pointless--both arguments clearly addressed in the previous essays in the book, which one presumes the author of THIS essay should have been aware of. The other "happiness is bad" essay makes inane arguments like "You shouldn't expect your work to make you happy because if you're fired you're going to lose all that happiness and be a mess." That's basically like saying you shouldn't find happiness in a pet because eventually the pet will die, or you shouldn't find happiness in friends because friends sometimes leave or you just grow apart. Completely unconvincing, and I expected more research and better arguments, especially to close the book.
September 1, 2018
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: HAPPINESS BOOK
HAPPINESS CLASS: "It's only recently that we realized that we could marry one of our oldest questions - 'What is the nature of human happiness?' - to our newest way of getting answers: science. Until just a few decades ago, the problem of happiness was mainly in the hands of philosophers and poets." (28)
RESILIENCE: "One of the misconceptions about happiness is that happiness is being cheerful, joyous, and content all the time; always heaving a smile on your face. It's not - being happy and leading rich lives is about taking the good with the bad, and learning how to reframe the bad. In fact in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology 'Emodiversity and the Emotional Ecosystem" by Harvard researcher Jordi Quoidback, found that experiencing a wide range of emotions - both positive and negative - was linked to positive mental and physical well-being." - Vaness Buote, Social Psychology postdoctoral researcher at Harvard. As Tolstoy put it, "For happiness you need as much unhappiness as happiness."
HAPPINESS CLASS: "The biggest misconception of the happiness industry is that happiness is an end, not a means. We think that if we get what we want, then we'll be happy. But it turns out that our brains actually work in the opposite direction."
HAPPINESS CLASS: "We sometimes tend to see 'being happy' as the end goal, but we forget that what's realy important is the journey; finding out what makes us the happiest and engaging in those activities to help us lead a more fulfulling life."
In other words, we're not happy when we're chasing happiness. We're happiest when we're not thinking about it, when we're enjoying the present moment because we're lost in a meaningful project, working toward a higher goal, or helping someone who needs us.
RESILIENCE CLASS: "Happiness isn't the absence of suffering; it's the ability to rebound from it. And happiness is not the same as joy or ecstasy; happiness includes contentment, well-being, and the emotional flexibility to experience a full range of emotions." (11)
HAPPINESS CLASS: "Measuring subjective experiences is a lot easier than you think. It's what your eye doctor does when she fits you for glasses. He puts a lens in front of your eye and asks you to report your experience, and then she puts another lens up, and then another. She uses your reports as data, submits the data to scientific analysis, and designs a lens that will give you perfect vision - all on the basis of your reports of your subjective experience." (29)
RESILIENCE CLASS: "As it turns out, people are not very good at predicting what will make them happy or how long that happiness will last. They expect positive events to make them much happier than those events actually do, and they expct negative events to make them unhappier than they actually do. In both field and lab studies, we've found that winning or losing an election, gaining or losing a romantic partner, getting or not getting a promotion, passing or failing an exam all have less impact on happiness than people think they will. A recent study showed that very few experiences affect us for more than three months." (33)
RESILIENCE CLASS: "If you go blind or lose a fortune, you'll find that there's a whole new life on the other side of those events. And you'll find many things about that new life that are quite good. In fact, you'll undoubtedly find a few things that are even better than what you had before. You're not lying to yourself, you're not delusional. You're discovering things you didn't know - couldn't know - until you were in that new life. You are looking for things that make your new life better, you are finding them, and they are making you happy. What is most striking to me as a scientist is that most of us don't realize how good we're going to be at finding those things. We've never say 'Oh, of course, if I lost my money or my wife left me, I'd find a way to be just as happy as I am now.' We'd never say it - but it's true." (36)
HAPPINESS CLASS: "We know that people are happiest when they're appropriately challenged - when they're trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach." - Daniel Gilbert, Harvard scientist
"It would be much more effective to tell the person who works for you, 'I don't think most people could get this done by Friday. But I have full faith and confidence that you can. And it's hugely important to the entire team."
- Daniel Gilbert, Harvard scientist
JOY CLASS - JOY and happiness are A PRACTICE: "Psychologist Ed Diener has a finding I really like. He essentially shows that the FREQUENCY of your positive experiences is a much better predictor of your happiness than is the INTENSITY of your positive experiences.... But Diener and his colleagues have shown that how good your experiences are doesn't matter nearly as much as how many good experiences you have. Somebody who has a dozen mildly nice things happen each day is likely to be happier than somebody who has a single truly amazing thing happen. So wear comfortable shoes, give your wife a big kiss, sneak a french fry. IT sounds like small stuff, and it is. But the small stuff matters." (41).
"I think this explains why it's so hard for us to forecast our affective states. We imagine that one or two big things will have a profound effect. But it looks like happiness is the sum of hundreds of small things. Achieving happiness requires the saem approach as losing weight. People trying to lose weight want a magic pill that will give them instant results. Ain't no such thing. We know exactly how people lose weight: They eat less and exercise more. The don't have to eat MUCH less or exercise MUCH more - they just have to do those things consistently. Over time it adds up. Happiness is like that. The things you can do to increase your happiness are obvious and small and take just a little time. But you have to them every day and wait for the results." (41)
WE SEE LACK OF HAPPINESS AS A FAILURE, IT IS NOT. "Essentially, when happiness becomes a duty, it can make people feel worse when they fail to accomplish it." (138).
PURSUE MEANING, NOT HAPPINESS: "In one experiment, psychologists asked a number of people to keep a detailed diary for two weeks. What they found at the end of the study was that those who greatly valued happiness felt lonelier than those who valued happiness less." (142)
HAPPINESS CLASS: "It's only recently that we realized that we could marry one of our oldest questions - 'What is the nature of human happiness?' - to our newest way of getting answers: science. Until just a few decades ago, the problem of happiness was mainly in the hands of philosophers and poets." (28)
RESILIENCE: "One of the misconceptions about happiness is that happiness is being cheerful, joyous, and content all the time; always heaving a smile on your face. It's not - being happy and leading rich lives is about taking the good with the bad, and learning how to reframe the bad. In fact in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology 'Emodiversity and the Emotional Ecosystem" by Harvard researcher Jordi Quoidback, found that experiencing a wide range of emotions - both positive and negative - was linked to positive mental and physical well-being." - Vaness Buote, Social Psychology postdoctoral researcher at Harvard. As Tolstoy put it, "For happiness you need as much unhappiness as happiness."
HAPPINESS CLASS: "The biggest misconception of the happiness industry is that happiness is an end, not a means. We think that if we get what we want, then we'll be happy. But it turns out that our brains actually work in the opposite direction."
HAPPINESS CLASS: "We sometimes tend to see 'being happy' as the end goal, but we forget that what's realy important is the journey; finding out what makes us the happiest and engaging in those activities to help us lead a more fulfulling life."
In other words, we're not happy when we're chasing happiness. We're happiest when we're not thinking about it, when we're enjoying the present moment because we're lost in a meaningful project, working toward a higher goal, or helping someone who needs us.
RESILIENCE CLASS: "Happiness isn't the absence of suffering; it's the ability to rebound from it. And happiness is not the same as joy or ecstasy; happiness includes contentment, well-being, and the emotional flexibility to experience a full range of emotions." (11)
HAPPINESS CLASS: "Measuring subjective experiences is a lot easier than you think. It's what your eye doctor does when she fits you for glasses. He puts a lens in front of your eye and asks you to report your experience, and then she puts another lens up, and then another. She uses your reports as data, submits the data to scientific analysis, and designs a lens that will give you perfect vision - all on the basis of your reports of your subjective experience." (29)
RESILIENCE CLASS: "As it turns out, people are not very good at predicting what will make them happy or how long that happiness will last. They expect positive events to make them much happier than those events actually do, and they expct negative events to make them unhappier than they actually do. In both field and lab studies, we've found that winning or losing an election, gaining or losing a romantic partner, getting or not getting a promotion, passing or failing an exam all have less impact on happiness than people think they will. A recent study showed that very few experiences affect us for more than three months." (33)
RESILIENCE CLASS: "If you go blind or lose a fortune, you'll find that there's a whole new life on the other side of those events. And you'll find many things about that new life that are quite good. In fact, you'll undoubtedly find a few things that are even better than what you had before. You're not lying to yourself, you're not delusional. You're discovering things you didn't know - couldn't know - until you were in that new life. You are looking for things that make your new life better, you are finding them, and they are making you happy. What is most striking to me as a scientist is that most of us don't realize how good we're going to be at finding those things. We've never say 'Oh, of course, if I lost my money or my wife left me, I'd find a way to be just as happy as I am now.' We'd never say it - but it's true." (36)
HAPPINESS CLASS: "We know that people are happiest when they're appropriately challenged - when they're trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach." - Daniel Gilbert, Harvard scientist
"It would be much more effective to tell the person who works for you, 'I don't think most people could get this done by Friday. But I have full faith and confidence that you can. And it's hugely important to the entire team."
- Daniel Gilbert, Harvard scientist
JOY CLASS - JOY and happiness are A PRACTICE: "Psychologist Ed Diener has a finding I really like. He essentially shows that the FREQUENCY of your positive experiences is a much better predictor of your happiness than is the INTENSITY of your positive experiences.... But Diener and his colleagues have shown that how good your experiences are doesn't matter nearly as much as how many good experiences you have. Somebody who has a dozen mildly nice things happen each day is likely to be happier than somebody who has a single truly amazing thing happen. So wear comfortable shoes, give your wife a big kiss, sneak a french fry. IT sounds like small stuff, and it is. But the small stuff matters." (41).
"I think this explains why it's so hard for us to forecast our affective states. We imagine that one or two big things will have a profound effect. But it looks like happiness is the sum of hundreds of small things. Achieving happiness requires the saem approach as losing weight. People trying to lose weight want a magic pill that will give them instant results. Ain't no such thing. We know exactly how people lose weight: They eat less and exercise more. The don't have to eat MUCH less or exercise MUCH more - they just have to do those things consistently. Over time it adds up. Happiness is like that. The things you can do to increase your happiness are obvious and small and take just a little time. But you have to them every day and wait for the results." (41)
WE SEE LACK OF HAPPINESS AS A FAILURE, IT IS NOT. "Essentially, when happiness becomes a duty, it can make people feel worse when they fail to accomplish it." (138).
PURSUE MEANING, NOT HAPPINESS: "In one experiment, psychologists asked a number of people to keep a detailed diary for two weeks. What they found at the end of the study was that those who greatly valued happiness felt lonelier than those who valued happiness less." (142)
March 30, 2022
Nothing special, but a good inspiration for my master thesis
May 18, 2024
Didn’t love this book. I was hoping it would be more about happiness in general but really zeroed in on happiness at and related to work. I should’ve figured as it’s a HBR book.
October 1, 2019
Really good book this is the first book I have finished out for the HBR collection.
January 8, 2024
The essays have good arguments regarding workplace happiness and also counter arguments regarding how happiness is getting too much attention at work. I jotted down 4 to 5 points in all from this book that I would like to remember and reflect on. It’s an OK read.
July 19, 2023
A good mix between seeking happiness and also not overemphasizing the search for it, especially in the workplace.
October 4, 2021
My favorite quotes and takeaways from HBR’s Happiness:
Overall, I liked the concrete research and understanding how happiness affects work from a worker and a managers standpoint.
“Happiness feels intolerably elusive for many of us. Like fog, you can see it from afar, dense and full of shape. But upon approach, it’s particles loosen and suddenly it becomes out of reach, even though it’s all around you.”
“As our lives came to include more empathy, gratitude, and meaning, I stopped feeling sad.”
“being happy and leading rich lives is about taking the good with the bad, and learning how to reframe the bad”
“happy people are better workers. Those who are engaged with their jobs and colleagues work harder— and smarter.”
“Frustration, anger,and stress cause an important part of us to shut down — the part that’s thinking and engaged. Disengagement is a natural neurological and psychological response to pervasive negative emotions.”
“To be fully engaged, people need vision, meaning, purpose, and resonant relationships.”
“it’s on us as individuals to find ways to live our values at work and build great relationships. And it’s on leaders to create an environment where people can thrive. It’s simple and practical: if you want an engaged workforce, pay attention to how you create a vision, link peoples work to your company’s larger purpose, and reward individuals who resonate with others.”
“We have a remarkable ability to make the best of things. Most people are more resilient than they realize”
“Synthetic happiness is what we produce when we dont get what we want, and natural happiness is what we experience when we do. They have different origins but they are not necessarily different in terms of how they feel. One is not obviously better than the other…most folks think synthetic happiness isn’t as “good” as the other kind- that people who produce it are just fooling themselves and aren’t really happy. I see no evidence demonstrating that that’s the case. You’re not lying to yourself; you’re not delusional.”
“Frequency of your positive experiences is a much better predictor of your happiness than is the intensity of your positive experiences”
“The progress principle: of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a work day, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. The more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”
“Knowing what serves to catalyze and nourish progress - and what does the opposite - turns out to be the key to effectively managing people and their work.”
People are most motivated when they have the opportunity to experience achievement. Marking consistent meaningful progress = sense of achievement.
“It is especially important for managers to minimize daily hassles”
Be a resource not a micromanager - check IN versus check UP
“If you facilitate their steady progress in meaningful work, make that progress salient to them, and treat them well, they will experience the emotions, motivations, and perceptions necessary for great performance. Their superior work will contribute to organizational success. And here’s the beauty of it: they will love their jobs.”
Components of thriving:
1. Vitality: “The sense of being alive, passionate, and excited. Employees who experience vitality spark energy in themselves and others. Companies generate vitality by giving people the sense that what they do on a daily basis makes a difference.
2. Learning: The growth that comes from gaining new knowledge and skills.
—> ONE CANNOT BE GOOD WITHOUT THE OTHER (otherwise you get burnout)
“Our research has uncovered four mechanisms that create the conditions for thriving employees: providing decision-making discretion, sharing information, minimizing instability, and offering performance feedback. The mechanisms overlap somewhat. For instance, if you let people make decisions but give them incomplete information, or leave them exposed to hostile reactions, they will suffer rather than thrive.”
“Corporate culture is inherently contagious; employees assimilate to their environment.”
FEEDBACK is critical to thriving: it helps relieve uncertainty and keeps the focus on goals.
“Essentially, when happiness becomes a duty, it can make people feel worse if they fail to accomplish it. This is particularly problematic in the present era, in which happiness is preached as a moral obligation.”
Drawbacks when focusing on happiness in the workplace:
-expecting happiness at work might cause us to expect reassurance from our bosses that makes us emotionally vulnerable in the workplace.
-be weary that emotional dependence on work creates risks for if you get laid off, etc,
-also note the risk of viewing happiness as something that can be created in a calculated way, which can interfere when spilled over into home and personal life.
Overall, I liked the concrete research and understanding how happiness affects work from a worker and a managers standpoint.
“Happiness feels intolerably elusive for many of us. Like fog, you can see it from afar, dense and full of shape. But upon approach, it’s particles loosen and suddenly it becomes out of reach, even though it’s all around you.”
“As our lives came to include more empathy, gratitude, and meaning, I stopped feeling sad.”
“being happy and leading rich lives is about taking the good with the bad, and learning how to reframe the bad”
“happy people are better workers. Those who are engaged with their jobs and colleagues work harder— and smarter.”
“Frustration, anger,and stress cause an important part of us to shut down — the part that’s thinking and engaged. Disengagement is a natural neurological and psychological response to pervasive negative emotions.”
“To be fully engaged, people need vision, meaning, purpose, and resonant relationships.”
“it’s on us as individuals to find ways to live our values at work and build great relationships. And it’s on leaders to create an environment where people can thrive. It’s simple and practical: if you want an engaged workforce, pay attention to how you create a vision, link peoples work to your company’s larger purpose, and reward individuals who resonate with others.”
“We have a remarkable ability to make the best of things. Most people are more resilient than they realize”
“Synthetic happiness is what we produce when we dont get what we want, and natural happiness is what we experience when we do. They have different origins but they are not necessarily different in terms of how they feel. One is not obviously better than the other…most folks think synthetic happiness isn’t as “good” as the other kind- that people who produce it are just fooling themselves and aren’t really happy. I see no evidence demonstrating that that’s the case. You’re not lying to yourself; you’re not delusional.”
“Frequency of your positive experiences is a much better predictor of your happiness than is the intensity of your positive experiences”
“The progress principle: of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a work day, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. The more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”
“Knowing what serves to catalyze and nourish progress - and what does the opposite - turns out to be the key to effectively managing people and their work.”
People are most motivated when they have the opportunity to experience achievement. Marking consistent meaningful progress = sense of achievement.
“It is especially important for managers to minimize daily hassles”
Be a resource not a micromanager - check IN versus check UP
“If you facilitate their steady progress in meaningful work, make that progress salient to them, and treat them well, they will experience the emotions, motivations, and perceptions necessary for great performance. Their superior work will contribute to organizational success. And here’s the beauty of it: they will love their jobs.”
Components of thriving:
1. Vitality: “The sense of being alive, passionate, and excited. Employees who experience vitality spark energy in themselves and others. Companies generate vitality by giving people the sense that what they do on a daily basis makes a difference.
2. Learning: The growth that comes from gaining new knowledge and skills.
—> ONE CANNOT BE GOOD WITHOUT THE OTHER (otherwise you get burnout)
“Our research has uncovered four mechanisms that create the conditions for thriving employees: providing decision-making discretion, sharing information, minimizing instability, and offering performance feedback. The mechanisms overlap somewhat. For instance, if you let people make decisions but give them incomplete information, or leave them exposed to hostile reactions, they will suffer rather than thrive.”
“Corporate culture is inherently contagious; employees assimilate to their environment.”
FEEDBACK is critical to thriving: it helps relieve uncertainty and keeps the focus on goals.
“Essentially, when happiness becomes a duty, it can make people feel worse if they fail to accomplish it. This is particularly problematic in the present era, in which happiness is preached as a moral obligation.”
Drawbacks when focusing on happiness in the workplace:
-expecting happiness at work might cause us to expect reassurance from our bosses that makes us emotionally vulnerable in the workplace.
-be weary that emotional dependence on work creates risks for if you get laid off, etc,
-also note the risk of viewing happiness as something that can be created in a calculated way, which can interfere when spilled over into home and personal life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2023
(audiobook version) quick and light, very accessible. it was ok, except some odd ideas here and there like: too much happiness at work is not good because you start acting "risky" - this, for example, was absurd, and contradictory with the actual theme of the Emotional Intelligence book series - are you supposed to be "happy" or what?
...but this is about business happiness, and you also get chapters talking about customer happiness, something to note.
otherwise, the ideas are good, for example:
people are happy when the personal vision for the future, or their future, is aligned with the company's vision,
when they do not feel capped in their growth and the future is open to expansion,
when they can focus on things that are important to them, in parallel, or as part of the work towards the business goals,
when they can form connections at work and build, or become part of a community, to fill personal needs
...
now, conceptually speaking, i do disagree with other things from the book, for example the concept that happiness is not high intensity feel-good moments here and there, but consistent low-intensity feel-good moments that have highly recurrent pattern - i do not think this fits everyone the same way, my opinion is that for some, the latter can actually cause boredom, and/or depression in time. there are some that take more lasting pleasure from the comprehension of the delta between normal-life-moment levels and happy-moment levels, and that can be sustainable for them. we do not all fit the same patterns, some have more patience than others, some are more appreciative than others, just these two things can change perception of happiness considerably, for example.
then there is the discussion about making mistakes, as in do not tell people the made mistakes publicly, but i think the bigger problem is the culture around making mistakes, maybe a mistake was made, but that is some both the employee and the business can accept and work to improve, and nobody is looking at it as passing judgement.
then there is a discussion than can be had about values around statements about happiness from the book, like "you can be happy by being altruistic". one person can be altruistic because it makes them look good (technically _act_ altruistic, not _be_ altruistic, but sometimes the difference is subtile to the person themselves), they look good to themselves and/or others, so they are happy, while another person can be altruistic because it's the right thing to be, this is what normal looks like to them, this does not add to their happiness, it's neutral, but not being altruistic would make them sad.
...but, yes, book, tell people being altruistic will make them happy, it's gonna be beneficial to the world :) win!
...but this is about business happiness, and you also get chapters talking about customer happiness, something to note.
otherwise, the ideas are good, for example:
people are happy when the personal vision for the future, or their future, is aligned with the company's vision,
when they do not feel capped in their growth and the future is open to expansion,
when they can focus on things that are important to them, in parallel, or as part of the work towards the business goals,
when they can form connections at work and build, or become part of a community, to fill personal needs
...
now, conceptually speaking, i do disagree with other things from the book, for example the concept that happiness is not high intensity feel-good moments here and there, but consistent low-intensity feel-good moments that have highly recurrent pattern - i do not think this fits everyone the same way, my opinion is that for some, the latter can actually cause boredom, and/or depression in time. there are some that take more lasting pleasure from the comprehension of the delta between normal-life-moment levels and happy-moment levels, and that can be sustainable for them. we do not all fit the same patterns, some have more patience than others, some are more appreciative than others, just these two things can change perception of happiness considerably, for example.
then there is the discussion about making mistakes, as in do not tell people the made mistakes publicly, but i think the bigger problem is the culture around making mistakes, maybe a mistake was made, but that is some both the employee and the business can accept and work to improve, and nobody is looking at it as passing judgement.
then there is a discussion than can be had about values around statements about happiness from the book, like "you can be happy by being altruistic". one person can be altruistic because it makes them look good (technically _act_ altruistic, not _be_ altruistic, but sometimes the difference is subtile to the person themselves), they look good to themselves and/or others, so they are happy, while another person can be altruistic because it's the right thing to be, this is what normal looks like to them, this does not add to their happiness, it's neutral, but not being altruistic would make them sad.
...but, yes, book, tell people being altruistic will make them happy, it's gonna be beneficial to the world :) win!
November 28, 2023
The last two essays are what I connected to most.
"After all, how we feel is linked to what and how we think."
"A recent study showed that very few experiences affect us for more than three months."
"...commit to some simple behaviors - meditating, exercising, getting enough sleep - and to practice altruism."
"one major finding is that people's minds wander nearly half the time, and this appears to lower their mood."
"But no matter what people are doing, they are much less happy when their minds are wandering than when their minds are focused."
"...people are more creative and productive when their inner work lives are positive - when they feel happy, are intrinsically motivated by the work itself."
"A person's inner work life on a given day fuels his or her performance for the day and can even affect performance the next day."
"In fact, our study and research by others show that negative events can have a more powerful impact than positive ones. Consequently, it is especially important for managers to minimize daily hassles."
"Work with less profound importance to society can matter if it contributes value to something or someone important to the worker."
"...flight is not possible, therefore fight is probable."
"And if he could not make that judgment, he asked."
"The challenge for managers is to avoid cutting back on empowerment when people make mistakes."
"The quicker and more direct the feedback, the more useful it is."
"Happiness can also be exhausting. The pursuit of happiness may not be wholly effective, but it doesn't really hurt, right? Wrong. Ever since the eighteenth century, people have been pointing out that the demand to be happy brings with it a heavy burden, a responsibility that can never be perfectly fulfilled.. Focusing on happiness can actually make us feel less happy."
"Essentially, when happiness becomes a duty, it can make people feel worse if they fail to accomplish it."
"...a small part of me regards my nonbliss not as unproductive negativity but as highly productive realism."
"Those who accept feeling stressed as the body's natural response to a challenge are more resilient and live longer than those who try to fight it."
"After all, how we feel is linked to what and how we think."
"A recent study showed that very few experiences affect us for more than three months."
"...commit to some simple behaviors - meditating, exercising, getting enough sleep - and to practice altruism."
"one major finding is that people's minds wander nearly half the time, and this appears to lower their mood."
"But no matter what people are doing, they are much less happy when their minds are wandering than when their minds are focused."
"...people are more creative and productive when their inner work lives are positive - when they feel happy, are intrinsically motivated by the work itself."
"A person's inner work life on a given day fuels his or her performance for the day and can even affect performance the next day."
"In fact, our study and research by others show that negative events can have a more powerful impact than positive ones. Consequently, it is especially important for managers to minimize daily hassles."
"Work with less profound importance to society can matter if it contributes value to something or someone important to the worker."
"...flight is not possible, therefore fight is probable."
"And if he could not make that judgment, he asked."
"The challenge for managers is to avoid cutting back on empowerment when people make mistakes."
"The quicker and more direct the feedback, the more useful it is."
"Happiness can also be exhausting. The pursuit of happiness may not be wholly effective, but it doesn't really hurt, right? Wrong. Ever since the eighteenth century, people have been pointing out that the demand to be happy brings with it a heavy burden, a responsibility that can never be perfectly fulfilled.. Focusing on happiness can actually make us feel less happy."
"Essentially, when happiness becomes a duty, it can make people feel worse if they fail to accomplish it."
"...a small part of me regards my nonbliss not as unproductive negativity but as highly productive realism."
"Those who accept feeling stressed as the body's natural response to a challenge are more resilient and live longer than those who try to fight it."
February 14, 2024
🌞 Điều tâm đắc nhất: Hạnh phúc có thể xây dựng được từ lòng biết ơn, sự gắn kết tích cực, làm những điều ý nghĩa cho người khác và nhìn thấy những thành tựu nhỏ đều đặn mỗi ngày.
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🎋 Rút ra 01: Hạnh Phúc không chỉ là những cảm xúc tích cực mà là cách mình đón nhận tất cả cảm xúc, kể cả là tiêu cực.
🎋 Rút ra 02: Hạnh phúc tại nơi làm việc thật sự quan trọng, 1 ngày dành 12 tiếng ở cơ quan, việc được học tập, phát triển và ghi nhận là cách để mỗi cá nhân cảm thấy hạnh phúc.
🎋 Rút ra 03: Hạnh phúc đến từ những việc nhỏ nhặt hằng ngày nhưng được cố gắng tạo ra đều đặn và liên tục. Khoa học cũng chứng minh hạnh phúc nhân tạo và hạnh phúc tự nhiên thì kết quả và cảm nhận cũng không khác nhau là mấy.
🎋 Rút ra 04: Hạnh phúc là khi tâm trạng tập trung làm việc mà không nghĩ về nhiều vấn đề khác, là thấy bản thân được tiến bộ từng ngày, chậm rãi nhưng chắc chắn.
🎋 Rút ra 05: Hạnh phúc không phải lúc nào cũng tốt cho cộng động. Nghiên cứu cho rằng hạnh phúc làm cho con người nghĩ nhiều hơn về bản thân và vô tình bớt nghĩ cho người khác.
Một quyển sách ngắn 150 trang, có phiên bản EN-VI, có thể hoàn thành nhanh trong 2 tiếng tại quán caphe. Không quá sâu, nhưng có nhiều ví dụ thực tế
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🎋 Rút ra 01: Hạnh Phúc không chỉ là những cảm xúc tích cực mà là cách mình đón nhận tất cả cảm xúc, kể cả là tiêu cực.
🎋 Rút ra 02: Hạnh phúc tại nơi làm việc thật sự quan trọng, 1 ngày dành 12 tiếng ở cơ quan, việc được học tập, phát triển và ghi nhận là cách để mỗi cá nhân cảm thấy hạnh phúc.
🎋 Rút ra 03: Hạnh phúc đến từ những việc nhỏ nhặt hằng ngày nhưng được cố gắng tạo ra đều đặn và liên tục. Khoa học cũng chứng minh hạnh phúc nhân tạo và hạnh phúc tự nhiên thì kết quả và cảm nhận cũng không khác nhau là mấy.
🎋 Rút ra 04: Hạnh phúc là khi tâm trạng tập trung làm việc mà không nghĩ về nhiều vấn đề khác, là thấy bản thân được tiến bộ từng ngày, chậm rãi nhưng chắc chắn.
🎋 Rút ra 05: Hạnh phúc không phải lúc nào cũng tốt cho cộng động. Nghiên cứu cho rằng hạnh phúc làm cho con người nghĩ nhiều hơn về bản thân và vô tình bớt nghĩ cho người khác.
Một quyển sách ngắn 150 trang, có phiên bản EN-VI, có thể hoàn thành nhanh trong 2 tiếng tại quán caphe. Không quá sâu, nhưng có nhiều ví dụ thực tế
October 10, 2022
mình vẫn luôn tự hỏi hạnh phúc là gì khi mà đâu đâu trong tất cả những lời chúc hay những hy vọng con người ta vẫn mong chính bản thân và người mình yêu thương được hạnh phúc. Vậy có phải hạnh phúc là 1 đích đến mà tất cả mọi người cùng nhắm đến trong cuộc đời này không?
Nhưng Emotional Intelligence - Happiness đã cho mình 1 cái nhìn khác về hạnh phúc và mình nghĩ đây mới chính là định nghĩa của hạnh phúc.
Có 1 vài câu trích dẫn mình thấy rất hay:
“một trong những hiểu lầm về hạnh phúc, đó là hạnh phúc đồng nghĩa với việc lúc nào cũng vui vẻ, sung sướng và mãn nguyện tươi cười. Không phải như vậy - hạnh phúc và sống một đời phong chú là mở lòng đón nhận những điều tốt đẹp cùng với những điều tồi tệ theo một cách khác.”
Mình vô tình, nhưng cũng cố tình đọc quyển sách này khi bản thân mình muốn biến mất, không muốn tồn tại trên trái đất này, nhưng nó làm mình phải nhìn và suy nghĩ lại. Hy vọng rằng khi bạn đang sống 1 cuộc đời an nhiên bạn có thể cảm nhận được những trải nghiệm trên con đường hạnh phúc của chính mình.
Rất nên đọc nhé
Nhưng Emotional Intelligence - Happiness đã cho mình 1 cái nhìn khác về hạnh phúc và mình nghĩ đây mới chính là định nghĩa của hạnh phúc.
Có 1 vài câu trích dẫn mình thấy rất hay:
“một trong những hiểu lầm về hạnh phúc, đó là hạnh phúc đồng nghĩa với việc lúc nào cũng vui vẻ, sung sướng và mãn nguyện tươi cười. Không phải như vậy - hạnh phúc và sống một đời phong chú là mở lòng đón nhận những điều tốt đẹp cùng với những điều tồi tệ theo một cách khác.”
Mình vô tình, nhưng cũng cố tình đọc quyển sách này khi bản thân mình muốn biến mất, không muốn tồn tại trên trái đất này, nhưng nó làm mình phải nhìn và suy nghĩ lại. Hy vọng rằng khi bạn đang sống 1 cuộc đời an nhiên bạn có thể cảm nhận được những trải nghiệm trên con đường hạnh phúc của chính mình.
Rất nên đọc nhé
June 28, 2020
Happiness is always our primary concern as a human being. It is one of the most strived emotions to achieve. But, how many of us won the game? Very few. Still, we are looking forward to grasping it and lead a fulfilling life.
This book is treating Happiness from a business point of view. I personally liked the first and last two chapters. The final chapters try to figure out why we are seeking happiness, and what is the use of it. And it also highlights our happiness seeking behavior might be self-destructive in the long run.
I think Happiness is a state of mind which should be attained organically. We don't need to fight for it. Focus on things that are worth doing. Constantly try to improve ourselves and help others to improve. Happiness will come to us naturally.
renJith
This book is treating Happiness from a business point of view. I personally liked the first and last two chapters. The final chapters try to figure out why we are seeking happiness, and what is the use of it. And it also highlights our happiness seeking behavior might be self-destructive in the long run.
I think Happiness is a state of mind which should be attained organically. We don't need to fight for it. Focus on things that are worth doing. Constantly try to improve ourselves and help others to improve. Happiness will come to us naturally.
renJith
August 10, 2020
Seperti judul lain dalam seri HBR, Happiness ini memberikan banyak sudut pandang dan pemahaman baru terkait kebahagiaan dalam dunia profesional alias dunia kerja. Bahwa perusahaan/instansi dapat berperan dalam meningkatkan kebahagiaan pegawainya yang tentu saja akan berpengaruh pada output organisasi.
Buku ini membedah apa-apa yang membuat pegawai bahagia, termotivasi, dan menunjukkan performa baik. Hal-hal ini tentu saja saya garis bawahi dan ingat-ingat agar pelan-pelan bisa saya terapkan (?). Yang menyenangkan dari buku ini, adalah adanya keseimbangan proporsi antara pentingnya kebahagiaan di tempat kerja serta peringatan dampak negatif jika kita terlalu berfokus pada proses mengejar kebahagiaan tersebut.
Seri HBR selalu penuh insight dan menyenangkan untuk dibaca. 4 bintang.
Buku ini membedah apa-apa yang membuat pegawai bahagia, termotivasi, dan menunjukkan performa baik. Hal-hal ini tentu saja saya garis bawahi dan ingat-ingat agar pelan-pelan bisa saya terapkan (?). Yang menyenangkan dari buku ini, adalah adanya keseimbangan proporsi antara pentingnya kebahagiaan di tempat kerja serta peringatan dampak negatif jika kita terlalu berfokus pada proses mengejar kebahagiaan tersebut.
Seri HBR selalu penuh insight dan menyenangkan untuk dibaca. 4 bintang.
May 21, 2017
This collection of articles from HBR about the subject of happiness is full of useful insights that many organizations can use to improve the overall morale of people in the workplace.
The articles I would say is well balanced as there are presentations that advocate the subject while the last two articles gave us caution as to what seemed overemphasis towards the subject.
Nevertheless, I would go with the happiness camp. Too many people around the world are not engage in the workplace. It is already a common occurrence that people are more excited with Fridays than Mondays (the more so during Saturdays and Sundays). This campaign towards happiness sounds just about right.
The articles I would say is well balanced as there are presentations that advocate the subject while the last two articles gave us caution as to what seemed overemphasis towards the subject.
Nevertheless, I would go with the happiness camp. Too many people around the world are not engage in the workplace. It is already a common occurrence that people are more excited with Fridays than Mondays (the more so during Saturdays and Sundays). This campaign towards happiness sounds just about right.
December 11, 2019
In love with this collection I feel like the HBR gathers all the mainstream knowledge about soft skills and examined it through a scientific approach (dans la mesure du possible).
This wasn't a self help book more a practical review of different implicatioms of happiness at the work place especially! So instead of preaching what one has to do to be happy (well it included a few social scientists tricks but this wasn't the main concern).
"Are we finally seeing a backlash against happiness? Sort of. Most of these recent releases rail against our modern obsession with feeling happy and thinking positively."
This wasn't a self help book more a practical review of different implicatioms of happiness at the work place especially! So instead of preaching what one has to do to be happy (well it included a few social scientists tricks but this wasn't the main concern).
"Are we finally seeing a backlash against happiness? Sort of. Most of these recent releases rail against our modern obsession with feeling happy and thinking positively."
April 8, 2023
While traveling through Chicago Ohare airport, i stumbled across this book to read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it because it introduced me to new aspects of happiness that I would have overlooked. I especially liked the chapter that dealt with progress principle and how it affected peoples day. It emphasized the idea that while happiness is all around us it can sometimes become out of reach; however, small things matter and happiness is truly the sum of hundreds of small things. This book gave me a new outlook on achieving happiness rather than looking to chase it. It also taught me the importance of gratitude which is something I often struggle to enact in my daily life.
January 25, 2024
Este libro lo parti porque es un formato pequeño, perfecto para leer en la micro o en los tiempos muertos, pero la verdad me pareció tan interesante que finalmente lo lleve a la playa.
Son una serie de libros que hablan de distintos temas: empatía, mindfulness, liderazgo, etc... donde explican los diferentes estudios y conclusiones que se ha llegado en cada ámbito.
La felicidad es un concepto que esta a la moda, todos buscamos la felicidad, pero ¿cómo podemos medirla? es lo mismo para cada persona? un libro bien interesante que te hace pensar si eres feliz y como puedes encontrar la felicidad desde lo mas simple.
Son una serie de libros que hablan de distintos temas: empatía, mindfulness, liderazgo, etc... donde explican los diferentes estudios y conclusiones que se ha llegado en cada ámbito.
La felicidad es un concepto que esta a la moda, todos buscamos la felicidad, pero ¿cómo podemos medirla? es lo mismo para cada persona? un libro bien interesante que te hace pensar si eres feliz y como puedes encontrar la felicidad desde lo mas simple.
May 9, 2019
They say that it takes one book to spark a passion for reading. This was it for me. Although the book is mostly focused on the business side of happiness, it is certainly applicable to every life situation. This book was key to my understanding of human behavior. The book offers a view on the positive sides of happiness as-well as the negative ones. I believe this is truly important to really understand a particular subjects. Overall, I really enjoyed the book.
December 30, 2019
It helps you understand happiness on a deeper level and helps you fix your meaning of happiness. It helps you understand how to obtain it and what it is like to chase it.
In the first chapter you will understand happiness and on the other chapters it will talk about happiness in a worker’s life; in a sense, we are all workers (also, students). It is small with good graphs here and there. It can be read multiple times till it gets stuck in the head, the true meaning.
In the first chapter you will understand happiness and on the other chapters it will talk about happiness in a worker’s life; in a sense, we are all workers (also, students). It is small with good graphs here and there. It can be read multiple times till it gets stuck in the head, the true meaning.
June 18, 2020
Interesting book. Collection of articles that talk about various aspects of happiness, what it is and what it isn't. What I liked is that it gives different definitions and ways of looking at 'happiness', which enable people of various personalities to get something out of this book.
It gives practical advice for what companies and leaders can do in order to improve daily lives and performance of colleagues.
It gives practical advice for what companies and leaders can do in order to improve daily lives and performance of colleagues.
July 8, 2023
Purchased this one in the DSM airport last week, so I would have something new to read on the plane. The essays were well written, and the book was a very quick read. I agree with a lot of the book, that happiness is a mindset, and it's okay to not be happy all the time. Sometimes, not being happy at work, is a good thing, as it allows people to get more done. Like all things in life, it's a balancing act!
April 29, 2018
"As bird is born to fly, a human is born to be happy."
This book summarises recent researches in the happiness areas and shows interesting results. First, the pursuit of happiness does not make a person happy. Happiness does not improve performance.
There are links to scientific articles. However, since it is a review and not proper book, I'm not sure if there are no contradicting researches.
This book summarises recent researches in the happiness areas and shows interesting results. First, the pursuit of happiness does not make a person happy. Happiness does not improve performance.
There are links to scientific articles. However, since it is a review and not proper book, I'm not sure if there are no contradicting researches.
September 25, 2018
What an amazing book! Quick read, very insightful, and every article leaves you thinking further about what you just read. Answers some questions and sparks others. What I read in this book started some of the best conversations I’ve had, and that deserves 5 stars.
February 18, 2019
I thought this book gave me a great insight into how employees and managers can help make the workplace a happier place. I originally bought it just for general happiness but it still had a great insight into things both employees and employers can do.
March 24, 2020
This book is filled with very interesting research on happiness. Although its really good book for anyone in management or learning about happiness specifically at work, i reccomened it for anyone interest in physcology and research on emotion!
May 31, 2020
I love it because gives you small advice on how to be happy at work and most importantly why. Adding value on what you do everyday is something special therefore is good to discover what makes us happy in order to bring that value at work and live a fully happy life.
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