No.1 Neuroscientist: Age 30 to 50 Will Be Your Unhappiest, Here's How To FIX IT! - Dr. Tali Sharot
1. Cultivate Optimism for Success
Optimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy; believing in positive outcomes changes your actions, increasing the likelihood of achieving success and potentially higher earnings.
2. Pursue Meaning and Variety
Don’t solely chase happiness; actively seek meaning and variety in life for a richer, more fulfilling existence, as these are equally important factors for well-being.
3. Embrace Change for Greater Happiness
When considering a significant life change (e.g., job, relationship), lean towards making the change, as studies show people who commit to change tend to be happier than those who don’t.
4. Empower Others Through Choice
To increase commitment and a sense of agency in individuals or teams, offer choices (even if guided) so they feel they’ve made the decision themselves, which boosts their dedication.
5. Reduce Anxiety via Perceived Control
Enhance well-being and reduce anxiety by providing a sense of control and reducing uncertainty, even if actual control is limited (e.g., providing information or options).
6. Influence with Common Ground First
When trying to persuade or influence, begin by establishing common ground or highlighting shared beliefs to open the other person’s mind and make them more receptive to your message.
7. Leverage Emotion and Stories
To effectively convey messages and influence others, prioritize emotional stories and anecdotes over pure data and logic, as they are more memorable, engaging, and impactful.
8. Show Progress to Drive Motivation
Motivate individuals and teams by clearly demonstrating progress, using numbers or visual tracking, as seeing improvement is a powerful driver of behavior and continued effort.
9. Schedule Anticipatory Events
Boost current happiness and motivation by scheduling and looking forward to positive ‘anticipatory events’ (e.g., vacations, project milestones) in the future, as the anticipation itself brings joy.
10. Manage Emotional Contagion
Be mindful of the emotions you project, as they are contagious and will influence the feelings and stress levels of those around you, making emotional control helpful.
11. Practice Positive Self-Interpretation
When good things happen, attribute them to your personal traits or skills, and consider how those traits can lead to future successes in other areas of your life.
12. Attribute Failures to Circumstance
When negative things happen, view them as circumstantial or temporary, rather than a reflection of a permanent personal flaw, to maintain optimism and resilience.
13. Underestimate Your Adaptation Speed
Embrace new situations and take risks, as humans adapt faster and better to changes than they typically anticipate, leading to resilience and growth.
14. Highlight Rewards for Action
To motivate action, emphasize the positive rewards and desired outcomes rather than focusing on the fear of negative consequences, as rewards are a stronger driver.
15. Reduce Subjective Stress
Focus on reducing the subjective feeling of stress in individuals (e.g., through exercise, time in nature, social interaction) rather than solely reducing external pressure, to maintain performance and well-being.
16. Actively Manage Relationship Desire
Counter emotional adaptation in relationships by creating distance (e.g., short trips away) and presenting yourself in new or unexpected contexts to re-spark attraction and appreciation.
17. Cultivate Gratitude Through Imagination
Foster appreciation for your current life by occasionally imagining life without the positive things you possess, such as your partner, home, or job, to highlight their value.
18. Surprise to Capture Attention
Capture and maintain attention in communication by introducing novel and surprising elements, as the brain is wired to notice and respond to the unexpected, bypassing ‘wallpaper’ messages.