Happiness tip: List 3 things that made you happy at work today
Sometimes the simplest things work the best, and this week’s happiness tips is one of the simplest we know:
Before you leave work, make a list of 3 things that made you happy at work today. It can be big things or small things, that doesn’t matter, just list 3 things that you enjoyed about work today.
It could be things like:
- We closed a big sale with a new client, that felt great
- A co-worker told me how much he appreciates working with me
- I had a great time at lunch with my team – everyone was laughing
We suggest making this list daily for a week and then switching to doing it only every Friday, where you list 3 things that made you happy that week. A study showed that making the list weekly rather than daily actually works better – possibly because you don’t tire of it as quickly.
This is one practice that seems almost too simple to work, but one study showed that if you do this for two weeks, you will be measurably happier for 3 months afterwards.
The reason why this works so well is probably that it helps us to actually remember the good things that happen to us during the work day. Normally our brains are subject to the phenomenon called negativity bias which means that we’re better at remembering bad experiences. If you’ve had 10 good experiences at work and one bad one, there’s a good chance that you’ll go home thinking about that one bad experience, which will make the day feel bad, though it was actually mostly a good day.
Pro tip: You can also apply the same tip at home. I’d just finished doing a speech for a client once, when a lady came up from the audience. She told me that she’d attended a speech of mine a few years earlier and that she’d implemented this tip with her family. Every evening around the dinner table, every person (herself, her husband and the two kids) have to list three things that made them happy that day. At first they found it to be a little weird, but now it’s something they all look forward to and she told me that her kids collect good experiences throughout the day that they can tell about at dinner.
More on HR Needs in Global M&A and How to Focus on Positivity & Happiness - RecognizeThis! Blog Said,
February 20, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
[...] after I published this post, I read a terrific post by Alexander Kjerulf on his Chief Happiness Officer blog about how to focus on gratitude. Alexander [...]
More on HR Needs in Global M&A and How to Focus on Positivity & Happiness - DerekIrvineGloboforce - Member Blogs - HR Blogs - HR Space from Personnel Today and Xpert HR Said,
February 20, 2013 @ 6:51 pm
[...] after I published this post, I read a terrific post by Alexander Kjerulf on his Chief Happiness Officer blog about how to focus on gratitude. Alexander [...]
Ingrid Lang Pedersen Said,
April 3, 2013 @ 12:16 pm
Hej Alexander.
Det må være ret livsbekræftende at have gjort det til en livsvej at hjælpe andre til arbejdsglæde! Jeg hørte om det via DSA, og jeg har delt linket med forskellige venner og familie. Jeg tænker på, hvor du henter dine principper fra? For mange af dem synes jeg, jeg kan finde i Biblen – men uden at den bliver nævnt – fx det at give kaffe eller positiv opmærksomhed til en person, man ikke bryder sig så meget om, kan være som ‘at gå den anden mil’. Og Paulus skriver jo bl.a. om, aktivt at glæde sig; han skrev det da han var i fængsel i Filipperbrevet kap. 4 v. 4.
For mig er en grundlæggende faktor, at jeg er kristen og har oplevet en stor frihed, glæde og hvile gennem undervisningen, som kan findes i http://www.kristusimig.dk under Materialer; derigennem kan vi få renset og fornyet vores selvværd. Og derudfra har jeg et endnu stærkere grundlag for at praktisere, hvad du skriver og underviser om.
Med venlig hilsen
Ingrid Lang Pedersen
sygeplejerske
Rødovre – arbejder p.t. i Norge -men internettet er jo grænseløst! ;-)
Alexander Said,
April 3, 2013 @ 6:05 pm
Tak for de pæne ord, Ingrid. Jeg er ikke som sådan inspireret af biblen, men der er selvfølgelig masser af gode ting i den, som kan hjælpe mennesker til at finde mening i tilværelsen.
Ingrid Lang Pedersen Said,
April 3, 2013 @ 11:30 pm
Velbekomme! – Måske du skulle prøve at læse fx Det nye Testamente og sammenligne med Arbejdsglæde-teorierne? Jeg tror, du kunne blive overrasket. :-)
I øvrigt vil jeg lige tilføje, at min nuværende erfaring af at leve som personligt kristen, d.v.s. at jeg har taget imod Jesu soning på korset for mine synder, har ført mig ind i en ny virkelighed, hvor jeg ikke bare har Biblen som ydre vejledningsbog, men Jesus lever ved Helligånden i mig (Kolossenserbrevet 1,27), og det giver dels en dyb glæde, fred og ‘mæthed’, dels betyder det, at jeg kan vælge at det er Ham i mig, som rækker ud til andre med kærlighed, glæde, fred og de øvrige kendetegn ved Helligåndens Frugt, jf. Galaterbrevet 5, 22-23. Jeg kan virkelig anbefale dig at checke det mere ud; det har iflg. Biblen og min overbevisning betydning både for livet nu og i evigheden! – Du kan fx også checke med Berni Dymet på http://www.christianityworks.com . Han er ca. 50 og tidligere succesfuld forretningsmand – fortalte bl.a. om sin baggrund i den udsendelse, jeg hørte med ham på UCB Radio http://www.ucb.dk i dag. (Ma-F 09.30).
Venlig hilsen Ingrid Lang
HAPPY | mom305 Said,
April 10, 2013 @ 4:06 pm
[...] Happiness tip: List 3 things that made you happy at work today (positivesharing.com) [...]