It is September time again: we are all back at work, at school or college, enrolled in our weekly activities.
This is the time when we all meet in conference rooms, downtown shops and restaurants, and on the road in traffic jams.
Our opportunities to sit back back and think are getting thinner, still it is essential that we find the time to:
This is the time when we all meet in conference rooms, downtown shops and restaurants, and on the road in traffic jams.
Our opportunities to sit back back and think are getting thinner, still it is essential that we find the time to:
1. Engage in health and fitness initiatives. Sara Snodgrass, a psychologist from the Florida Atlantic University demonstrated the significant positive impact of a 3 minute walk on our daily mood.
2. Pause to thank our friends, team, our co-workers, our leaders and our Customers for their contribution to our projects. Check the site from Prof. Seligman and the field of Positive Psychology: "a one-time act of gratitude produced an immediate 10% increase in happiness and 35% decrease in depressive symptoms".
3. Review our weekly schedule and allocate time to prioritize and "flow". What is "flow"? Check for Michael Csikszentmihalyi, he defines it as a state of intense concentration and productivity, and the best way to achieve self-contentment and boost your self-esteem.
4. Discover new friends, new colleagues at work and new places. Harvard proved it: there is a 0.7 (strong) correlation between the feeling of happiness and our social connection (Shawn Achor, 2012).
5. Sit back and reflect about how meaningful our activities are. Meaning in our life is the Number 1 driver of happiness; James Coyne estimated in his 2013 study a correlation factor of 0.79, on a scale ranging from 0 = no correlation to 1 = full conformity of the studied data to the correlation.
September is a period of stress for all of us: the time of busier schedule, higher productivity, from curriculum nights to lunch meetings. Studies prove it, we will achieve more (meaning) and better results when we balance the 5 dimensions of our life:
1. Health and fitness
2. Positive emotions and gratitude
3. Productivity and flow
4. Social and discovery
5. Leadership and meaning
2. Positive emotions and gratitude
3. Productivity and flow
4. Social and discovery
5. Leadership and meaning
Interested to find out more about shaping a balanced lifestyle, check your happiness score on www.authentic-happiness.com
Clara
