Bring Happiness to Work is a guest blog post courtesy of Dean Newlund, founder and CEO of Mission Facilitators International, a boutique training and development firm based in Phoenix, Arizona. Connect to additional leadership coaching, team development and strategic planning, and more at Mission Facilitators International here.
The majority of the information we are fed every day is not positive. The news is about murder, corruption, natural disasters and diseases, like COVID-19. Quickly our brains start to think that’s the accurate ratio of negative to positive in the world.
It’s not the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which our brain views the world that shapes our reality. If we can change the lens, not only can we change our happiness, we can change business outcomes at the same time.
No matter how happy we are with a new success – for example getting a new job – shortly our brains are focused not on the privilege of having the new job, but rather on the competition, the workload, the hassles, and stresses.
Only 10% of our external world predicts our long-term happiness. Only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ. 75% of job successes are predicted by our optimism levels, our social support and our ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.
Our current success formula is: if I work harder, I’ll be more successful. And if I’m more successful, then I’ll be happier. When our brains experience a present moment positive experience our intelligence, creativity, energy levels rise and every business outcome improves; a positive brain is 31% more productive, we’re 37% better at sales and doctors are 19% faster and more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis than when our brains our neutral or negative.
A happy brain is flooded with dopamine which turns on all the learning centers. Here are daily rituals to retrain your brain to be positive.
- Write down 3 new things you’re grateful for,
- Journal about one positive experience over the last 24 hours,
- Exercise,
- Meditate – you’ll learn focus,
- Perform a random act of kindness.
“Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees.”
– Tony Hsieh
Dean Newlund is the founder and CEO of Mission Facilitators International. MFI partners with leaders and their teams by providing the vision, tools, and support needed to craft robust solutions to address challenges and meet and express their mission. Founded in 1992, MFI is home to more than a dozen professional coaches, trainers, and strategic planning facilitators who work as a team in facilitating growth for leaders, teams, and organizations. Find more resources at mfileadership.com.
