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Happiness can be created and designed into the way you live your life. One of these ways is through the 5 Happiness Habits, which are a part of our proven blueprint for creating more happiness at work [and in life]! Watch our coach|sultant Jess Lozada review each habit and how it works:
World’s leading scientific expert on flow is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He says that “people are happy not because of what they do, but because of how they do it.”
We experience flow when we are engaged in challenging tasks that affirm our skill sets but keep us from being too bored or too overwhelmed. Flow also involves getting immediate feedback on what we're doing and feeling. Athletes feel flow when they're "in the zone", and you can feel it while at work too. Sometimes you can create situations that are likely to put you in a state of flow like turning off distracting devices, going to a quiet place, playing your favorite music, or reciting affirmations.
Mindfulness researcher, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, developed a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program to help people with chronic pain and terminal illnesses. His research shows that this program improved learning, memory, emotion regulation, empathy, and overall quality of life.
When we are very stressed and anxious either at home or at work, a mindfulness practice like a breathing meditation will allow us to feel in tune with our body and will help us relax.
Here's a 15-minute exercise every day that you can do to improve your mindset.
Most people express altruism through giving, volunteering, supporting co-workers, or working above-and-beyond for the good of their team. Altruistic actions help us feel more connected to others and build relationships that strengthen our sense of community.
Organizational psychologist, Adam Grant, found that altruism drives the quality of your relationships with others. In addition to giving them something [your time, your energy, etc.], you become more empathetic and compassionate about other people’s situations. Your happiness is strengthened through the perspective of a giving mindset. Similar to love, happiness grows when it is shared with others.
As humans, we are wired to notice and stay focused on negative outcomes so that we can learn to avoid them in the future. The problem is that this behavior makes it difficult for us to feel gratitude in our everyday lives. When we start practicing habits of gratitude like reflecting on your wins every day or reciting your blessings, we train our minds to focus on the positive things.
It's no wonder we feel happier in moments of positive reflection, especially around the holidays!
Related: 5 Meaningful & Better Ways You Can Show Appreciation At Work
Being optimistic retrains our brains to interpret hard times in a positive way, allowing us a different perspective on how to respond to obstacles and challenges.
Martin Seligman is one of the founders of the Positive Psychology movement, and in his research he notes that optimists tend to be much more successful. In his research for Learned Optimism, he examined the performance of sales agents and found that those who were notably optimistic had a 37% increase in sales than their less optimistic counterparts.
Learn how to implement more of these habits into your workplace for positive business outcomes and happier employees:
