I applied one of the principles: The Zorro spot- to cleaning my usually cluttered office. Concentrate effort on one small aspect of the problem and defend that territory. It can also be applied to writing a book or a screenplay. You do not write a book, you write one page at a time.
He also reviews the literature on willpower: It is an easily exhaustible resource and when it is gone performance on subsequent tasks suffers. In my interpretation, the person transitions from caring about the problem and working hard to a state of "whatever". He used the example of a chocolate cake temptation destroying a diet. The way to break through the willpower resource depletion problem is to make an activity habitual so it can be done without much thought or effort like brushing teeth. Initially establishing the behavior is difficult, like learning to juggle. At first it impossible to attempt to juggle the balls without complete concentration. After weeks of practice, the same task can be done while carrying on a conversation.
He also recommends interpreting a negative outcome or failure as falling up rather than falling down. What can I learn from this adverse situation that will make me a better person? When I was briefly disabled, I decided to start to write blogs for several reasons, to improve my writing and to keep track of information I was discovering and off load part of my brain. The larger purpose was to help others improve themselves through learning. People can interpret bad situations as "Why did this happen to me?" or I recognize that what happened to me is awful but I will use it to appreciate what I have left and be a more grateful caring person.
Shawn is also a believer that repeated failure leads to success if we do not fall into the trap of learned helplessness. This was explored in more detail in the book Adapt by Tim Harford. Students can apply a self identity model of "I am a smart person" as a fixed personality trait to be defended or as I am a person who learns from my mistakes. The latter person is more willing to learn new things while expecting to fail. This was noted in Jan McGonigal's book Reality is Broken. People learning how to become better at computer games expect to fail initially as they start out. The key is to start small and do the preparation first.
Shawn describes a high powered executive who wanted to become a marathon runner in one month. She failed miserably because she was not willing to do the small initial steps to prepare herself for her larger task. If you want it all now you will never have it.
Shawn provides a lot of helpful advice and it is a good review of other author's and researcher's work on positive psychology. Use your creative brain and not let circumstances define who you are but allow yourself the grace to be grateful for what you have and use this information to fall up to a becoming a better person.
Shawn Achor is available as a public speaker on many topics. His book The Happiness Advantage is available at Amazon.com and other retailers.
Happiness Advantage - 3 minute summary
Shawn Achor at Ted Ex in Bloomington, Indiana - 12 minutes
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