From Mindset To Connections: The Happiness Advantage By Shawn Achor

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From Mindset to Connections: How Happiness Can Lead to Success Can happiness lead to success? We frequently make difficult decisions between pleasure and success in our quest for happiness. Sometimes the decisions between the two can be rather complex. The innovative book The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, however, exposes a new way of thinking that overcomes the widely held notion that success cannot be achieved through happiness. Achor further explains three fundamental ideas by demonstrating a direct correlation between success and human psychology. This essay explores these ideas in-depth, dissecting their complexities, and showcasing how important a role they play in our success and general well-being. For instance, these principles …show more content…

In fact, by fostering and nurturing meaningful social connections, individuals get a plethora of benefits that significantly contribute to their overall well-being. In other words, humans are social animals, that benefit greatly from other human connections to help support ourselves and defeat greater challenges. For example, Achor mentions how important cooperation was from a real-life example of his firefighter training. During his training, they had a limited time for oxygen masks, and they needed to rescue a person as a team. However, the situation did not go as planned and panic erupted. In this case, Achor explains that when you face a life-threatening situation “the only way to save ourselves is to hold on tight to the people around us and not let go” (Achor 159) This is true in all aspects of our lives, we need others not only support us but help us succeed better. Achor also mentions a long-lasting study that followed 268 Harvard men after graduation to see how their lives would turn out. It turns out that among these men the most successful and happiest ones are those who formed multiple meaningful and strong connections with others. According to the author, this further proves the fact that “our relationships with other people matter, and matter more than anything else in the world.” (Achor 161) In essence, social investment serves as a pillar for personal development, resilience, and