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What the Second-Happiest People Get Right

Five takeaways:

  1. This article proposes that more happiness is not always better than less– that overprioritizing happiness can detract from the drive that provides meaning.
  2. Researchers recently examined a data set from a study that rated incoming college freshmen’s “cheerfulness” and tracked their income nearly two decades later– and found that the “most cheerful in 1976” were not the highest earners in 1995. This distinction went to the second-highest group, which rated their cheerfulness as “above average” but not in the highest 10 percent.
  3. The article does not deny that happiness is good; rather, it urges readers to remember that a little bit of unhappiness has benefits. It breeds ambition and solution-based thinking.
  4. “An aversion to unhappiness can lead us to forgo a meaningful life.” – To avoid failure (and the feeling of failure) many will avoid taking the risks or putting out the effort required to find fulfillment.
  5. Those with the highest performance in life have been forced to make decisions that were unpleasant and scary.

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
Read the whole story.

Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

How to Succeed at Failure

Three takeaways:

  1. This article provides practical advice on turning a major disappointment or failure into a life-defining opportunity for personal growth.
  2. A first step is realizing that “ruminating over a failure keeps it front and center and can lead to catastrophizing” – making it much more drastic in your mind than it is in reality. This can lead you to depression and anxiety, and then more failure.
  3. Brooks offers three handy tips for contextualizing failure in a productive way, based on conversations with Xiaodong D. Lin, a professor of cognitive studies at Columbia University’s Teachers College who has spent decades studying human failure.
    • Think About Other’s Past Failures (As Well as Your Own)– One must take the time to remember that even the most successful people have failed and slipped up countless times. At the same time, analytically breaking down your own failures can lead to a sense of control and understanding that alleviates frustration.
    • Stop Angling for Success– Chasing success above all else is a mistake. Remember that perfection is unattainable, and you will learn gradually to see the progress in each setback- and that the sting of failure is temporary.
    • Keep Your Ideals Front and Center– Nobel Prize winners do not set out to win the Nobel Prize. They set out to solve specific problems. To make new discoveries. A failure committed in the pursuit of a goal or purpose will more easily translate to productive learning.
    • People who pursue a greater sense of well being find meaning, learning, and purpose in their failures– using them to grow stronger and more effective.

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
Read the whole story.

Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

The Difference Between Hope and Optimism

Four takeaways:

  1. People tend to use hope and optimism as synonyms, but that isn’t accurate. A 2004 paper from The Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology determined that “hope focuses more directly on the personal attainment of specific goals, whereas optimism focuses more broadly on the expected quality of future outcomes in general.”
  2. In other words, Optimism is “the belief that things will turn out all right,” an assumption that Hope does not make. Hope is more powerful, “a conviction that one can act to make things better in some way.”
  3. Hope involves personal agency, and thus is more practical and linked to individual success. In 2013, researchers defining hope as “having the will and finding the way” found that high-hope employees are 28 percent more likely to be successful at work and 44 percent more likely to enjoy good health and well-being.
  4. Brooks lays out three steps to maximizing the practical value of your sense of hope:
    • Imagine a Better Future, and Detail What Makes It So
    • Envision Yourself Taking Action
    • Act!

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
Read the whole story.

Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

A Counterintuitive Way to Cheer Up When You’re Down

Five takeaways:

  1. Research shows that a reliable treatment of unhappiness is to make the effort to bring joy to others. A concerted effort to do so can be a source of well-being.
  2. Misery loves company, but it creates company too: research shows that unhappy people tend to spread their unhappiness to those around them.
  3. There is growing evidence that a “fake it till you make it” attitude towards personal happiness can help increase overall happiness. This includes a concerted effort to bring joy to others.
  4. Spending money on others and volunteering have both been shown to raise one’s own happiness levels
  5. “By deliberately preparing yourself to cheer up the people around you the way a happy person spontaneously would, you’ll create the conditions by which you can produce your own happiness naturally—and give the gift of happiness to others, as well.”

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
Read the whole story.

Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.
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