4 Books That Will Make You Happy And Successful
at is the good life? That's the primary question I'm trying to answer with this blog. Shortcuts and lifehacks are great. Surprising trivia is nice. But how can we really live great lives? I don't have time for much less. And I don't like corny fluff. I want answers backed by research, expertise or deep insight. Here are four books that really helped me. And I think they'll help you too. Find Direction In Life What is it? Clayton…
2 minutes
The Art Of Negative Thinking: How Negativity Can Make You Happier
cerpts from my interview with Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. What The Ancient Stoics Can Teach You About Happiness Oliver Burkeman: To sum up the Stoic perspective very simply: it's your beliefs about the world that cause distress, not the world itself. Eric: And this leads to a very powerful technique for increasing happiness. Oliver Burkeman: Yes. It's what the Stoics call, "the premeditation" - that there's actually a lot…
3 minutes
10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Smartest Older People
ve posted before about research into the most important life lessons we can learn from older people, taken from Karl Pillemer's excellent book, 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans. Here's another take on the same subject: Before the 50th reunion of Harvard Business School's class of 1963 they asked them what lessons they would pass on to younger people. This isn't firm scientific research -- but we ignore it at our peril. We can learn much about life…
5 minutes
How To Be More Confident: 5 Research Backed Methods
one doubts the value of confidence. In fact, research shows people often prefer confidence over actual expertise. G. Richard Shell teaches at the Wharton School and his book Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success has a great chapter on how to be more confident. Here's what you need to know. Surround Yourself With People Who Believe in You I've posted a lot about how the power of context can improve behavior. And people are a part of that. When you're told you're…
4 minutes
How To Get Happy RIGHT NOW: 7 Quick Ways To Feel Better
theory here. No nightly exercises for months. You're feeling sad or angry. How do you get happy fast? Sex, Exercise, Socialize When researchers survey 5000 people from 83 countries, what do they learn about happiness? We’re happiest when we’re having sex, exercising, or socializing. Via Engineering Happiness: A New Approach for Building a Joyful Life: Using smart phones, Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University collected a large sample of experiences and associated happiness. They also…
3 minutes
3 Ways To Boost Happiness That Sound Really Stupid But Actually Work
her book Positivity, professor Barbara Frederickson provides a number of positive thinking exercises to increase happiness and good feelings. I've covered a lot of this research before so most of it wasn't too surprising to me... but three of them threw me for a loop. I looked up the studies to verify. Sure enough, they were all the real deal: 1) Be Sincere Or Your Heart Will Explode Frederickson says fake smiles can lead to heart attacks. Via Positivity: Groundbreaking…
3 minutes
Is It Possible To Live Forever? How To Live A Long, Healthy Life
is it possible to live forever? The person with the longest confirmed lifespan is Jeanne Clement. She lived to be 122 and died in 1997. Imagining living that long almost makes your head hurt. This lady met Vincent Van Gogh. In person. For real. And was around to see the internet too. Imagine your retirement age and middle age being the same thing. She was still riding her bicycle everywhere until 100. Lived on her own until 110. And there's pretty…
8 minutes
The 4 Scientific Ways To Become Luckier
sounds crazy at first: How can you possibly become luckier? But it turns out luck isn't chance and magic. There's a science behind it. Richard Wiseman studied very lucky people to figure out what they had in common. In his book, Luck Factor, he explains the four principles you can use to increase luck in your life. 1) Maximize Opportunities It makes intuitive sense: if you lock yourself in your house, how many exciting, serendipitous things are going to happen…
3 minutes
