Mikayla Burchnell
Achor, Shawn. The Happiness Advantage. New York: Crown Business, 2010. Print.
Shawn Achor's book The Happiness Advantage is a book to help people learn how to go to work and be happier and more productive. You are also learning how to make your brain more positive, which will give you a more competitive edge in the work place according to Achor. Achor has seven principles that the book talks about. They are the happiness advantage, the fulcrum and the lever, the Tetris effect, falling up, the Zorro circle, the 20-second rule, and the social investment. Achor separates the book into 3 parts. The first part is where Shawn talks about his college career at Harvard University and how he got started in the positive psychology industry. The second part of the book is where Achor really gets into his seven principles. He designates about 23 or more pages to each principle. With each principle chapter Achor describes what you are supposed to do to achieve each principle and then gives examples of each principle in the "real world". It also uses scientific case studies. The third part of the book is the Ripple Effect. This is a short 11 page chapter. It talks about how the happiness advantage acts as a ripple. You start at your work then it can expand to your home. Eventually, it'll work its way through your whole life. You can also cause other people to become happy. That is another way the ripple effect works. Overall, the book is about the happier you are the better you'll do.
In my opinion, I loved this book. I fully agree with this philosophy. In my heart I believe that happiness is key to everything. Why even live if it is not to succeed at being happy? That is why I really wanted to read this book. I wanted to know the keys to being happy. I wanted to learn what it took to get happy. Achor had the seven principles that I read over to get the fuel to be successful and to perform well in the work place. I was able to comprehend each one and think of ways in which to apply it to myself. I had to of the principles that I felt where most important to me. The first was the first we got to learn of. The happiness advantage. The happiness advantage states that a happy or more positive brain works better than a neutral brain or a negative brain. I believe that in Northouse's book this quality is shown throughout. Northouse rarely uses negative examples. He tries to show us positive leaders, which will make us want to be positive leaders. The other principle that I mostly agree with is the social investment. This principle states that having a support group, whomever it may be, is most important in succeeding. I fully agree with this statement. I need more family and friends more than they will ever know. I would not be who I am today without them in my life. In Northouse's book I think this is shown when he talks of leaders as being "includers". You can be an includer when it comes to the ripple effect as well. You are including people into your happiness. Also when talking about the ripple effect it says to give others the happiness advantage. Which is being an includer. These are not the only ties I made with this book, but these are the most important ones to me.
I learned a lot from this book. I would recommend this book to everyone. I think that anyone can learn something from this book. Maybe not little kids, ha, but all adults. Shawn explains how he went and did a presentation for big league bosses. He also talks about giving the presentation to little kids. Then he goes on to state who he has given his presentation in less fortunate countries. This philosophy of happiness being the key to success can do great things anywhere. You see this from his testing and his data. That is why I would recommend this book to anyone. Anyone who wants to be happy. The person has to be willing to try and make it work. I am willing to make it work.
I am willing and that is why I actually would really like to read another one of his books. He has the book Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change. It is supposed to be the book you read before The Happiness Advantage. I’d still like to go back and read it though. As of right now he only has the three books. I am hoping he comes out with more on positive psychology.
This book was predominately about positive psychology and being happy. There was leadership in this book, but it wasn’t like reading Northouse. You have to use common sense and context clues to find the leadership given in the book. Achor does give examples of leaders learning about his presentation. How they really liked it and how they made it work in their lives, but that was about it. The whole book though was centered on the idea, I believe, that happiness leads to you being a better leader. That in order to be a better leader you have to have a positive brain and be happier than most. I plan to use this in my leadership practices. I believe that happiness is very important. When I say that, though, I mean self-happiness. You have to make yourself happy. You are not trying to make others happy because that is not going to make you perform better. That makes them perform better. My plan to make myself happier and to improve my work ethic will include some of Achor’s principles. I will include my support group in everything. Since I have been at Baylor I have been stressing out and going crazy. My work is at an all-time low and I’m not studying like I should. If we tie in Achor’s seven principle you will see I have not kept in touch with my support system. I barely talked to them at the beginning. It has got better, though. I also plan to have a more positive brain, to try and see the positive outlooks on things rather than the negatives. Finally, I plan on doing things starting in small bits and progressively making those bits bigger, I know my plan will work because Achor provided a lot of scientific case studies to back his theory up.
Overall, I loved the book. Achor did a great job at making his book be well supported. He provided a lot of example and actual facts to support what he was saying. I did not think he was misleading at any point in time. I really enjoyed reading The Happiness Advantage and hope you do to!