Psychologist, Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, says our most commonly held formula for success is broken…
Up to now we’ve all bought into the theory that: “if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy… and if we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow.”
However Shawn’s discoveries in the field of positive psychology have revealed that happiness fuels success – and not the other way around. He says: “When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn’t just an empty mantra. This discovery has been repeatedly borne out by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience, management studies, and the bottom lines of organizations around the globe.”
As an experienced business advisor and executive coach, who is a big advocate of helping the family owner businesses, I work with to achieve a work/life balance. I too have witnessed many CEOs and MDs become more successful when they are happy, fulfilled and firmly in the driving seat.
UK business consultant, Jane Bytheway, and her business partner, Nina Joy, help bosses to ‘overcome overwhelm’ and get to the root of what is holding them back in order to get them moving ahead are great champions of ‘A Daily Dose of Vitamin Positivity’. What a great expression!
How more energised do we feel when we work with happy and upbeat clients, supply partners and business partners? Happiness and positivity act as a magnet in the world of business – resulting in a ‘win-win’ for everyone.
So how much more effective would you, and your company, be, if you could reboot your mind to a happiness programme – in the same way that you reboot your computer?
On a scale of 1-10, where 1 equals extremely unhappy and 10 equals extremely happy, what’s your personal happiness rating?
- What are the justifications for your score?
- What’s not quite right at this moment in your personal life?
- What are the likely consequences for you and your business if you don’t address the issue(s)?
- What would it take to move your score up one level?
- When will you take the first action to make the step change?
It is so easy to say…discover your purpose and passion and you will unlock the true potential in your life — if only it were that simple.
For many of us, it has been so long since we had that feeling of true inner joy where time didn't seem to matter because we were doing what we loved…we forget how to dream, how to know what we even really want in our lives. Like a dog chasing its tail, we get up each day and do our best at our job, as a friend, in our role as parent, but is that enough? Is that all there is to life?
For me, the question was always could I get back the feelings I had as a 10-year old playing outside, reading or learning when I was perfectly in tune with life, unbelievably happy. For me, there were different points in my life that contributed… That led to the question – how do you discover your purpose and passion?
Here are 3 methods that you can use to change your life, regain excitement and fulfillment no matter what your age or circumstances…
1. Recall our childhood – I think if we look back on as much as we can remember between 5-18 we will remember/find passions we had at that time. We had time to dream, less preventing us from taking time to think and dream. Part of finding passion involves going back to those times and remembering what interests and passions you had back then. Sure, there may have been some bad stuff too…but really focus on what gave you the most joy and happiness. These years are where I did most of my initial learning, found music, discovered that I was very good at being critical, questioning and finding solutions to things – these are now passions.
2. When you go through momentous times in your life…major health challenges, a crisis, or a really happy time in your life (wedding, birth of a child, moving to a new job or country) It seems these times allow us to shed what has been hanging over our heads and focus on our passions once again
3. Relaxation and Introspection – learning to meditate effectively over the last 15-years or so has meant I get constantly to re-visit my passions, something I am thankful for each day. Focus first on learning to meditate and calm your mind, then you can begin to work toward guided meditations in which you can seek out your purpose and passion without a cloudy mind from the day's challenges.
Happiness, clarity, focus, health and well-being and earning potential are all linked very closely (if not dependent on) you finding your purpose and passion – do you know what your passion is?
http://www.peak-personal-development.com/blog/index.php/discover-your-purpose-and-passion/
