Do you want to be luckier?
The Happiness Advantage written by Shawn Achor proves how important a positive state of mind is.
Interestingly, the author worked with some accountants in an international firm and he realised that many of the tax auditors and manager were suffering from the negative effects of what he calls the Tetris Effect.
The Tetris Effect comes from the computer game where you arrange blocks. Compulsive gamers reported seeing blocks in real life; they would start mentally arranging boxes on supermarket shelves and even buildings. It would take over their life!
This is the brain running a pattern. This can be good for finding mistakes but bad in other aspects. I think this is why some accountants tend to be glass half empty type of people, whereas business owners are generally see the glass as half full.
The book actually reveals that happy, positive and optimistic people set more goals, make them more challenging and put more effort into achieving them. And, people who expect a positive outcome usually get one. So, for example happy, positive sales professionals close more deals.
Have you ever wondered why some people are lucky? Well, a researcher Richard Wiseman set out to discover why some people seem luckier than others.
Volunteers were asked to count the number of photographs in a newspaper. Some people stopped after a few seconds; the rest took an average of 2-minutes. The people who stopped after a few seconds spotted a message on page two which said “Stop counting there are 43 photos”.
The findings were clear. The happy, positive and optimistic people who considered themselves lucky were more likely to spot the message.
Interestingly, there was a second message half way through the newspaper which said “Stop counting, if you read this tell the researcher and they will pay you $250”. Once again, the people who considered themselves unlucky missed it.
Think of the impact this can have on your business. The happier and more positive you are the luckier you will be so I will follow up with more tips from the book.
