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Ways to be Happier at Work
This
is no time to wallow in negativity. New brain science reveals
why staying positive is your best defense against career stagnation.
By Anne Fisher
August
13, 2009
 With
widespread job cuts and a recession to deal with, it's not
easy to maintain a positive outlook at work these days. But
being upbeat, despite the stress, could actually help you
thrive during a downturn.
"Most
people make the mistake of thinking that success leads to
happiness. In fact, our brains work precisely the other way
around," says Shawn Achor, head of Aspirant, a consulting
firm that advises clients like Microsoft, American Express,
Credit Suisse, and UBS on how to keep morale and productivity
up in these extraordinarily difficult times.
A positive
approach to the daily grind, he adds,"gives rise to resilience,
energy, and the ability to influence other people—all
things that create success."
So if you want
to come through this downturn with flying colors—and
maybe even a promotion or a raise—you need to think
positive.
Achor,
who is also resident psychology tutor at Harvard, has done
5 years of research into "positive psychology,"
otherwise known as the formal academic study of happiness.
The field itself has only been around 15 years, but it’s
made some interesting findings.
Among
them: "The two most important predictors of success are,
first, whether we believe our behavior matters, that is, whether
we think we can make a real difference—and many people
lose that belief in hard times, because so much is out of
their control," Achor says. "And second, how do
you manage stress? Does it paralyze you, or does it move you
forward to action?"
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