Five Actionable Strategies to Create a Positive Path to Success

Shawn Achor is a brilliant guy. His research and work hold both an insightful and refreshing view of the world. I'm a fairly optomistic and hopeful person. His book provided me with an even greater roadmap to a more productive and positive way of life, both at home and in the workplace. Shawn's teachings have inspired me to work on being a "positive genius". There has already been some very real differences in my family life. I'd recommend this book to everyone. It can only improve your life. Mr. Achor also has a wonderful sense of humor. If you aren't sure, just watch his TED Talks.

Honestly, for three bucks, I expected a small handful of cute ideas. Imagine my surprise, this is what might be called a Real Book, well researched and well written, worth carving out time to read and sad to finish. Thanks so much!

The stories combined with the science are what makes this book groundbreaking & transformational. If you want to go beyond Achor's first book, "Happiness Advantage" read this book now and go do it. Watch what happens!

I loved Shawn Achor's first book "The Happiness Advantage" and found "Before Happiness" even more valuable. His use of both research data and personal experiences help make the book extremely readable. From my own work, I know that attitude, beliefs, and perspectives are key to success (personal and professional) and Shawn outlines specific steps needed to create and maintain positive change. I highly recommend reading "Before Happiness."

Ed Nottingham, PhD, PCC
Clinical & Consulting Psychologist
Author, It's Not As Bad As It Seems

I had high expectations for the book, given the TED talk he gave. THe ideas are basically the same with lame advice on how to leverage.
It seems like the author didn't really progress for this book or spend the effort... too bad...

This month’s book is essential reading for anyone who would like to be happier (and doesn’t that include all of us?). Shawn Achor is a well-known researcher whose ‎TED‬ talk on ‪#‎happiness‬ has been viewed by over 6 million people. He taught a “Positive Psychology” course at ‪#‎Harvard‬ that was so popular that it was attended by one out of every six students enrolled at the school.
His remarkable book Before Happiness ) gives the reader five hidden keys for sustaining positive change in one’s life. Achor’s research has shown that being successful doesn’t make you happier, but being happier definitely makes you more successful. For example, he reports that our brains are wired to seek and find negatives because “…in order to survive on the savanna our primitive brains had to respond to threats faster than to emotions like happiness or gratitude.”
So in the working world, employees need to hear three positives for every negative input they receive. And researchers discovered that the highest-performing work teams had a six to one ratio—and those positives can be as simple as a compliment or bringing in donuts. And guess what…when it comes to romantic relationships the ratio also needs to be six to one because couples with a ratio lower than five to one have a significantly higher rate of divorce!
Even if your ‪‎personality‬ tends to be a depressed one (by nature), Achor believes that you can train yourself to be more optimistic and cheerful. Simple things (like spending two minutes each day thinking about at least three different “good things” in your life) can make a huge difference in how we interact with others and the world at large. And after you finish reading this book, put ‪‎Pharrell Williams‬ “‎Happy‬” on your ‎Ipod‬!

With a mixture of science, motivation, and strategy, Shawn Achor once more helps people understand the concepts of happiness first, success later. I have previously read one of his other books, The Happiness Advantage, and really saw how it applied to myself and my coworkers. Before Happiness carries this a bit further, really delving into the different realities people live in and why some can see success and some can't.

He talks about creating a positive reality in 5 detailed steps. He writes how your "reality" leads to emotion, then to motivation, and finally to potential...thus it all comes back to your own personal "reality" that you have created for yourself. Do you look at it in a positive way or a negative way?

My favorite quote of the book is "...simply changing which facts you choose to focus on, you can significantly improve your response to stress at work and decrease your fatigue symptoms by a stunning 23 percent in one week." So many people don't realize how much control they have over their own feelings and how they perceive life!

I really enjoyed this book immensely and plan to re-read it again, as I feel that practice makes perfect. This is a great book for anyone interested in positive psychology or who just want to know how to improve their happiness and success in life.

This month’s book is essential reading for anyone who would like to be happier (and doesn’t that include all of us?). Shawn Achor is a well-known researcher whose ‎TED‬ talk on ‪#‎happiness‬ has been viewed by over 6 million people. He taught a “Positive Psychology” course at ‪#‎Harvard‬ that was so popular that it was attended by one out of every six students enrolled at the school.
His remarkable book Before Happiness ) gives the reader five hidden keys for sustaining positive change in one’s life. Achor’s research has shown that being successful doesn’t make you happier, but being happier definitely makes you more successful. For example, he reports that our brains are wired to seek and find negatives because “…in order to survive on the savanna our primitive brains had to respond to threats faster than to emotions like happiness or gratitude.”
So in the working world, employees need to hear three positives for every negative input they receive. And researchers discovered that the highest-performing work teams had a six to one ratio—and those positives can be as simple as a compliment or bringing in donuts. And guess what…when it comes to romantic relationships the ratio also needs to be six to one because couples with a ratio lower than five to one have a significantly higher rate of divorce!
Even if your ‪‎personality‬ tends to be a depressed one (by nature), Achor believes that you can train yourself to be more optimistic and cheerful. Simple things (like spending two minutes each day thinking about at least three different “good things” in your life) can make a huge difference in how we interact with others and the world at large. And after you finish reading this book, put ‪‎Pharrell Williams‬ “‎Happy‬” on your ‎Ipod‬!

With a mixture of science, motivation, and strategy, Shawn Achor once more helps people understand the concepts of happiness first, success later. I have previously read one of his other books, The Happiness Advantage, and really saw how it applied to myself and my coworkers. Before Happiness carries this a bit further, really delving into the different realities people live in and why some can see success and some can't.

He talks about creating a positive reality in 5 detailed steps. He writes how your "reality" leads to emotion, then to motivation, and finally to potential...thus it all comes back to your own personal "reality" that you have created for yourself. Do you look at it in a positive way or a negative way?

My favorite quote of the book is "...simply changing which facts you choose to focus on, you can significantly improve your response to stress at work and decrease your fatigue symptoms by a stunning 23 percent in one week." So many people don't realize how much control they have over their own feelings and how they perceive life!

I really enjoyed this book immensely and plan to re-read it again, as I feel that practice makes perfect. This is a great book for anyone interested in positive psychology or who just want to know how to improve their happiness and success in life.

Essentially, we have two choices in life, live in a state of perpetual sadness, excusing our own circumstances as functions of our surroundings. The second choice, sadly the road less chosen, is happy, grateful for families, friends and proud of our accomplishments.

Happily, Mr. Achor has chosen to focus on the " happy" alternative and provided a road-map, from which we all may benefit.

It's been suggested, including among others, James Collins in his fine book Good To Great, that a core reason many POW's did not survive, might have been due to overoptimism. It should have been clear, that those who did survive, did so largely through realistic optimism. A point made very clearly, distinctly and actionable by Mr.Achor.

Similarly, a cancer patient has options, make final arrangements, or recognize the most realistic road to good health and follow the plan with laser focus.

Mr. Achor outlines a 5 step program that's easy to follow and fun.

1/establish the most positive reality, we all know there is more than one, pick the one that makes us happiest;
2/ create a map for success;
3/ find our success accelerants; this is the most helpful part of his strategy, find the smaller accomplishments, bring them closer to the present and energize ourselves toward long term achievement;
4/cancel the noise; the some big, some small things that continually, but falsely suggest or deter from our goals being met;
5/ share with others; what's more fun than being happy...making someone else just as happy.

I've lived a relatively long and productive life and yet continue to search for a small edge to make both mine and the lives of the people around me, better. I have fairly sizable library of "living better/self help" tomes and this is easily one of the better ones.

Highly Recommended...and Happier Living !

Shawn Achor is an outstanding educator and motivator on happiness. If you've missed him on TED, I recommend you find his famous talk and become acquainted with his winning personality, gifted in connecting with people's emotions.

Achor makes the case that happiness is a competitive advantage. The habits of thinking that conduce to happiness can also help one reach one's greatest potential.

As we all can observe, individuals in the same circumstances at a given moment can experience entirely different realities. Each person is interpreting, transforming objective realities into something unique to themselves.

Once one is aware of this, one can endeavor to transform one's habits of thinking in order to alter one's reality. In the doing, a person might well develop capacities that enable them to achieve greater things.

Achor urges the cultivation of what he calls "positive genius," whereby "you can summon all your cognitive, intellectual, and emotional resources to create positive change, because you believe that true change is possible."

Positive genius can be achieved in five steps:

--select the "most valuable reality"

--map your course to achieve your goals.

--use "success accelerants" [pulling together a range of productivity approaches]

--cancel the negative "noise"

--scale your efforts by involving others.

Readers will note that these are pretty straightforward and familiar. Effectiveness and happiness are universally sought so that should not be surprising.

For most readers, other than young people for whom the basic messages are new, the value of the book may come from thinking about old issues in new ways. Achor offers many anecdotes and research summaries. If any one rings true to a reader, it may well be worth far more than the price of the book.

Several the store.com reviewers express disappointment that the research underlying Achor's recommendations is not more robust. To be sure, Achor, like many other business authors today, attempts to gain credibility with readers by backing up his assertions with solid evidence, ideally through peer-reviewed or other authoritative work.

Nonetheless, quantitative analysis is not what drives Achor's points home. It's his capacity to express familiar things in ways that spur action by readers. To that extent, it may resemble diet books. The research is useful to a point, but the books' value largely lies in spurring readers into action along lines that are well-known to them.

'Before Happiness' can be useful, in ways large or small, to almost anyone.

My experience introduction to Shawn Achor was a snippet from his TEDTalk. I enjoyed what he'd said and the personality with which he said it--that's why I was interested in reading this title. But I must admit I've not read his previous book 'The Happiness Advantage'. Despite that there were still mainly valuable insights gleaned from this title.

While the book has a definite bent toward self-help, it's not too heavy on the rah! rah! sis-boom-bah! type of information dispensation. He breaks down each section, explains their goals with anecdotal references, and then provides action steps to help realize those goals. For instance, in the first section titled 'Reality Architecture: Choosing the Most Valuable Reality" he explains that there are multiple possible realities at any given time based on the perspective and vantage point from which a situation is viewed using a lesson he learned while piloting a nuclear submarine. He then explains how to train your brain to see things from the various perspectives and vantage points in order to choose the best possible reality for a given situation.

His writing style was much like his speaking style--easy to follow and digest with a hint of comical whimsy. Definitely not a dry read, however, there was plenty of repetition. A bit too much in my opinion. The other caveat is that this book tends toward lower-level workplace situations, although he does glance on how to apply the techniques to life and possibly some entrepreneurial pursuits. But when I say "glance", I mean *glance*. That said, if you're creative it wouldn't be too difficult to tweak and modify as a necessary.

Overall this is an inspiring read that's sparked me to get a copy of his prior book.

Interesting book on Happiness, though I think this book skews somewhat towards self-motivation and how to be successful in life kind of book.

The stories presented in this book is quick to the point but the explanation of how those relates to happiness is somewhat diluted.

Some interesting concepts such as the longer the task takes, the more challenges the brain perceives the task to be. Somewhat like Sun-Sze Art of War?: Acting swiftly when there is opportunity. Or perhaps our human mind just needs instant gratification?

I am uncertain if this is a self-help book or a management book but I suppose it is a positive book for anyone to read.

These are the 5 steps of Happiness and Success:

1) Choose the most valuable reality - How to see multiple realities and select the one that leads to positive growth.

2) Map your meaning markers - How to identify and chart the best route to accomplishing your goals.

3) Find the X-Spot - How to use success accelerants to propel you more quickly towards your goals.

4) Cancel the noise - How to boost the signal that points to greater opportunities, possibilities, and resources.

5) Create positive inception - How to amplify the effects of a positive mindset by transferring your positive reality to others.

Don't worry, Be happy! (Really, as the book mentions that there is a cost for worrying!) :)

The book, in the noise cancellation chapter, says reduce our information intake, namely the "news." I was so happy compared to anything I've felt in years. I actually went a week without news other than what I heard in the background in environments. Shawn Anchor is correct in that the news is so negative and affects us even while we try not to let it do anything to our minds.

This book seems to be a significant contribution to happiness literature. It basically turns upside-down the idea that we need to be more successful to be happy. The converse is brought to reason in the book. Success only makes us adjust our goals to something higher. We never "get there." That's a losers game. Instead we should first become positive about things and then we'll get better outcomes as a result. We're better at doing things when we reverse the formula.

It was great being away from the negativity of the news for a week. Since then I fell back into checking the news and feel worse. The news really is negative, so the book got at least that one right.

There are many different aspects of what people believe and do based on habits rather than reality presented in this book.
When you study the success rates it turns out a lot of what they presume is totally wrong.
One of my favorite parts of the book was where he talked about a study I already knew about that exposed Jim Cramer as a terrible advisor when it came to predicting stocks.
In 2008 Michael Zhaung did a study and found out that Cramer was WRONG 64.4% of the time.
Yep, .despite all his pompous predictions he was right only 35.6% of the time.
So if you had followed his advice you would have LOST money.
I googled Jim Cramer sucks and here in 2013 he is still giving bad advice. All those booyah morons that are still listening to him are still getting worse returns than if you merely flipped an even weighted rock like a coin. Yep, it's a scientific fact. When it comes to stock predictions Cramer is dumber than a rock.
But there are many more scientific studies in the book.
Like when coaches call a time out just before a guy kicks a field goal, It turns out no matter what the distance more field goals are made after a "freezing" time out call than if they were allowed to just try and make it. Yet coaches still call those stupid time outs.
I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

I read at least two business books per month. Most books address functional roles such as being a leader, manager, doer, or seller. Another angle to business, however, is how we manage ourselves and our minds. What I mean by that is how you manage your personality, reactions, and behaviors. This book is all about influencing positive change by managing the way your mind works; by getting out of ruts and making your mind more aware and open to new ways to process information. It goes way beyond the self-empowerment techniques of positive self-talk; rather it provides actual functional practices that will help you become more effective by getting out of mental and behavioral ruts. While the book, like a lot of business books these days, can be very wordy (do editors manadet a minimum bumber fo pages these days??), the author presents enough new and engaging ideas that keeps the reader going. Another good book is Blindppot, Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, which addresses some of the same mind management (and self-awareness) issues as "Before Happiness", but from a different angle. These books do a great job of helping us actually implement the management and leadership principles presented in so many other books. A very worthwhile read that I highly recommend.

"Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change" by Shawn Achor is a fast, friendly, and easy read with some easy steps you can take to reorient your thinking patterns to bring positive change into your life, learn how to sustain a happier attitude, and spread the happiness around.

Achor has given us a book for change that doesn't involved buying all sorts of props and additional materials to make change happen. Nor are you required to re-read a paragraph 80 times before having a clue what the author is really suggesting you do. I found in simply reading the book through, before going back to implement the suggested steps, I was actually making some of those changes in my thought patterns without even trying.

Noise Canceling is the one skill I'm focusing on. And probably the one most people struggle with. All those self-doubting messages you've heard, and still hear, from outside sources that you have started feeding yourself.

A self-help book with practical steps anyone can realistically follow. I definitely need to read Archor's first book, "The Happiness Advantage."

Happiness is one thing the world will never have too much of!

I have been reading books on happiness for several years now. I was first attracted to the idea by "Learned Optimism". The idea of happiness being a created outcome was new to me at the time and a very interesting thing. So over the years I have read many repetitive books on achieving happiness.

This book is the most useful I have found. "Before Happiness" explains the foundation to happiness. It helps you learn and exercise the skills to build happiness and support it. Many books on happiness give great tips on how to be happy but they focus on a sustained effort. "Before Happiness" shows you how to build it in so that it becomes a natural consequence. I found that so useful.

I particularly appreciated the focus on spreading happiness. Achor gives specific advice that worked well for me. I was pleased that he was able to share something new and useful.

"Before Happiness" is well researched and shares a lot of interesting facts along with the advice. It makes for interesting reading.

This is one of my top 5 happiness books.