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Happiness is having its moment in the sun. And the darkened economy doesn't seem to have cast much of a shadow over it.
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A few weeks ago, my husband and I joined a packed auditorium at the Hilton New York for a lecture on positive psychology by Shawn Achor, a popular professor at Harvard. (This was part of One-Day University, a cool program that assembles a group of lecturers from top universities for a day of public lectures in major cities.) Achor took the audience through the greatest hits of the science of happiness, covering a wide swath of material in his alotted 70 minutes. He explained how positive psychology developed as a field of study. Instead of focusing exclusively on mental troubles like depression, psychologists like Martin Selgiman started focusing on people who are happy to figure out what we could learn from them.
Achor took us through a host of nifty experiments, like this one: Read More »- Let’s talk: Comment (38) | Blog
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My mother and I disagree about the importance of happiness. She adamantly argues that people in my (possibly, your) generation place too much emphasis on trying to be happy. She says that's a pragmatic perspective, that life is more about getting done what you have to get done to take care of yourself and the people you love. I think her thoughts on happiness are...well, sad. Read More »
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I confess: I can’t touch each piece of paper just one time. I can’t return every email within 24 hours. I can’t maintain a clear desk at all times. I can’t go paperless. Nevertheless, I’ve found some realistic strategies for getting things done that have helped me a lot.
One thing I know about myself is that an accumulation of tiny tasks, even if they aren’t particularly irksome in themselves, combine to make me feel overwhelmed and drained. If I can keep little chores from piling up, I feel much more capable of tackling bigger, more difficult tasks. Here are my strategies:
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Of course, being happy at work depends mostly on how much you like your job. But there are also smaller steps that can boost your happiness, as well -- partly by boosting your physical comfort and your productivity.
Some of these steps are VERY small, but the fact that you’re taking…
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