Michael Stallard, president of E Pluribus Partners, read my book about happiness at work and liked it:
Alex’s writing has a fun, conversational style, just like you would expect from the Chief Happiness Officer. Don’t mistake this for fluff, however. He covers a lot interesting material in a thoughtful, smart way.
You can read Michael’s entire review here.
But someone has Michael beat… Zeke Chan has read my book three times! Here’s what he thinks:
I have read it 3 times and have been constantly referring to it every now and then for inspiration and ideas. A whole lot of things have happened since then which has just been unbelievable. I started by making myself happy. In your book, you champion the concept of doing something to make you happy. So I did just that… I did things that made me happy, tried to be positive, helped my colleagues and made an effort to learn something new about someone each day. I always start my day by doing something that I love and enjoy. Only then do I start my day… which has been a habit of mine the past 2 months.
When I successfully made myself happy on a daily basis, I realized there was something else that needed to change to be truly happy… my attitude. That has really taken some time to do and I’m still learning to master my attitude and thinking. Here’s how things have changed since I’ve started. I really love my work and enjoy the company of my colleagues. I have tonnes of ideas that have great potential and could be worth something. I have started a freelance business that I’m positive will be successful. My relationship with my wife has gotten even better… so much that I’m encouraging her to discover what makes her happy and to find that happiness in the work she would love to do. She is struggling somewhat with this new concept of happiness at work, but I have no doubt that things will turn out great.
I want to thank you for your book. It is simple to understand and your suggestions are highly practical and easy to do. I’m trying to spread some happiness at my workplace but it has not been easy due to the culture… but one thing I’m certain of is that I’m at YAY! happiness level.
God, I’m good :o)
Click here to read the book free online or buy it on paper or as a pdf e-book.
Congrats! It’s always nice to see that people appreciate your hard work. When reading your writing, you can see how passionate you are about helping people work happier. Keep up the good work.
Nice one Alex.
M
Dear Alex,
I have not read your book (yet) but thought I would share with you my recent Happiness Program initiative.
I own & operate an advertising agency in Dubai and as one can imagine, the ad world is full of tight deadlines, immense pressure and harassing clients – this usually takes a toll amongst the creative team plus the suits servicing the accounts – so we had to do something to make the daily challenges worthwhile.
We have 25 employees and a typical calendar month has 25 working days. So, we launched a happiness roster where one individual is responsible for happiness every day and the roster gets rotated so everyone gets a chance to be in charge of happiness.
So far, we’ve had the following things done by people to create a little happiness;
1. The Warm Fuzzies Bag – everyone wrote something nice about a person and dropped that note into the warm fuzzies bag – these warm fuzzy notes allowed people to read something nice about themselves
2. One of the designers held a magic show for everyone – everybody huddled together at lunch time to see talent usually left hidden
3. The Green Diet Day – from green apples to green juices and green peas – a de-tox initiative by one of the fitness inclined staff members
4. Everyone got AED 50 (approximately US$ 15) and were told to give the money to someone outside the office as a gesture of appreciation – the guy who cleans the streets or washes cars etc…
5. An auction of small items like CDs, books etc where the money collected was given to a charity
The list is actually quite long but we all realised how the simplest things made people laugh and made the office a fun place to hang out – lunches got more animated, people stayed longer, individuals who don’t necessarily interact made a bond…. it’s been fun to see how everyone took this little initiative on board and made it a true part of our overall service philosophy.
Gaurav
Hi Alex! I recently received a job offer and just had an interview earlier today… and guess what? The 2 CEOs interviewing me are danish! They were telling me about how they manage their companies and I’m hoping that I would get the job. Work will be just like how you describe in your book… and something I’m certain I would enjoy!