Achor's Seven Principles

The book I choose to read for the book clubs was The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. Right in the beginning, Achor tells us that happiness is not fueled by success but that it is the other way around: happiness fuels success. I was a bit skeptical at this claim because I knew that whenever I did achieve success on a goal I was working on, I felt proud and happy at my accomplishment. But Achor goes on and explains that if we practice the principles of positive psychology, it will have a positive effect on our well-being and work ethic. He gives us seven positive psychology principles and explains the method and importance of each in our life. The first one is the happiness advantage. If we can retrain our brains to focus on the positive and practice other positive psychology principles, we can improve our productivity and performance. The second principle is the fulcrum and the lever. The fulcrum is our mindset and the lever is the potential that we have. If we can move our fulcrum in the right direction then we can unlock even more potential. The third principle is the tetris effect. This principle state that if we train our brains to loo for positive patterns instead of negative ones, then we can observe and seize more opportunities. Achor's fourth principle is falling up. When a person has a negative experience, they can either learn and grow from it, or sink lower. The person must be able to believe that they can turn the experience into a learning one before doing anything else. The fifth principle is the zorro circle. If we are faced with a crisis or stress, we can do little simple tasks that are manageable and the move onto the bigger issues. the sixth principle is the 20-second rule. By using twenty seconds to remove barriers, we can change our habits and behavior. The last principle is the social investment. When we try to enhance our our social relations, we can receive rewards such as and extended life span or performance improvement at work. My favorite principle is the sixth one because it is simplest principle and doesn't take much effort but it can have a lasting change on our lives. If we all tried to apply these principles to our lives, we would all see see how much potential we have and wouldn't be afraid to reach for it.