Category: Shawn Achor

Is Happiness Impossible?

In difficult times is happiness out of reach? On a cold, wet morning in Boston, I was peering out the subway windows over the recently thawed Charles River, dreaming longingly of the sailboats that dot the water in summer, when

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The Happiness Dividend

Nearly every company in the world gives lip service to the idea that “our people are our greatest asset.” Yet when the Conference Board Survey came out earlier this year, employees were the unhappiest they have been in their 22

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3 Ways to Train Your Brain to be Happy

“I will be happy when…” This innocent comment is the very reason that happiness is so elusive for us in the modern world. We think: I will be happy when I have a successful relationship. I will be happy when

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Want a promotion? Give more social support

The greatest metric for predicting job satisfaction and engagement is the social support perceived by the employee. And job satisfaction and engagement directly correlate with productivity. So the best and fastest way to feel more connected and therefore more productive

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Growth After Disaster: Going Beyond Resilience

A month after I visited my sister at her brand new home in Biloxi, Mississippi, hurricane Katrina hit. A month after my first lecture on Wall Street, the global economy collapsed. Shortly after I agreed to give a talk in

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Are Happy People Dumb?

“Happy people are not the smart people.” I was talking to a stock trader shortly before giving a lecture at a large bank in New York. I think he thought I was a fellow trader, but I felt a little

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