The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Author: Alexander

  • Peak state

    Tony Robbins London 2006

    I’m back from my Tony Robbins course, seminar, training, event in London this weekend and it was quite an experience.

    I had some preconceived ideas about what it would be like. It would be highly american. People yelling and jumping for no reason. Rock concert atmosphere. Tony Robbins jumping wildly on stage.

    It was all true.

    Multiplied by 10.

    And it totally, absolutely, convincingly and magnificently rocked. I can highly recommend this experience to anyone who wants to learn something about themself and get the energy and some tools to do something about it.

    The thing is, I can’t tell you much about what actually happens, because if you’re not there, actively participating it just sounds really, really weird. When you’re there, doing it, pushing yourself to do it to the max, it works. And it makes total, perfect sense that it would.

    I will tell you my main lessons from the event:
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  • Monday Tip: A warm “good morning”

    The Chief Happiness Officer's monday tipsThis monday, your mission is really simple: All morning, give everyone you meet an extra warm greeting. Smile broadly. Say “Good morning” in a cheerful voice. Take time to ask people how they are (really, not the fake “how are you” greeting).

    Don’t worry if people don’t answer or don’t smile back – it’s not a slight on you they may just be preoccupied or having a bad day. When that happens smile even more at the next person :o)

    The Chief Happiness Officer’s monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.

    Previous monday tips.

  • Photos from London

    I’m still in London and still having a great time. Here are some visuals from the trip. Click any image to see a larger version of it over at 23 – the cooler photosharing site.

    Pret and a bus
    This is how I know I’m in London. A cup of coffee from Pret á Manger and a doubledecker bus in the background.
    (more…)

  • Smile and have ideas

    Light bulbHarvard has an interview with Teresa M. Amabile on creativity and the power of ordinary practices.

    Here’s a gem from the interview:

    If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas that day, as well as the next day, even if we take into account their mood that next day.

    There seems to be a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.

    So happy people really are more creative. I knew it!

    Via businesspundit.

  • Friday links

    Happy cupHere are a few great recent links about happiness at work. And a silly one.

    I almost destroyed a life today. “I wasn’t raised to be such an arrogant, uncompassionate son of a bitch but I somehow managed to get there.”

    Confesstions of a (reformed) bad boss. “When I was in my 30s, and an up-and-coming executive, I took pride in the fact that I would travel to New York on a flight at seven, [fly] back at 11 and be back in the office at seven. The fact that someone had children to take to school, I just thought: Well, get organized, man!???

    Motivation = celebration + appreciation. “If you can find a way to appreciate yourself for what you’ve already accomplished, and to celebrate your previous successes, you will find you are ‘magically’ motivated to accomplish more.”

    Bad english from around the world. Including ” Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation” from a Rhodes tailor and “Drop your trousers here for best results” from a Bangkok dry cleaners.

    Enjoy, and have a grrrrreat weekend :o)

  • A question for ya

    QuestionLast week I asked what makes you happy or unhappy at work.

    I have a related question: How do you make others happy or unhappy at work? What have you done in, say, the last week that has made someone else happy or unhappy at work?

    I’d really like to know. Leave a comment :o)

  • In London

    I’m currently in London and have met with some amazingly cool people. Last night I met with fellow Dane Lars Plougmann for a pint and some great sushi. Lars recently went independent and consults banks, law firms and others on how to improve collaboration. Think wikis and stuff.

    We then went to Umair Haque’s as yet nameless weekly wednesday meeting on innovation. It was basically just a bunch of guys drinking (a lot of) beer and shooting the breeze in a nice pub. Topics included blogging, how traditional media companies are dooming themselves to a slow painful death, how all communities need “a dude” and The Colbert Report.

    Lars and I rounded of the evening in a great Lebanese restaurant on Edgware Road where we celebrated iftar (when muslims can eat again during ramadan) with kebabs and a shisha (water pipe).

    Today’s highlights include blogging in London and a visit to WhatIf? Innovation – Britain’s happiest workplace in 2005.

  • Great comments

    CommentsI thought you should all see some great comments that have come in recently with stories and ideas from all over the world.

    First, this comment that Inkling left on my post about The Cult of Overwork:

    I used to work at a company with a strong “overwork?? culture. After two years obsessing about getting in at 7, leaving at 7 (and then working even more from home), my wife had a baby. I took a week off, then felt justified in limiting my work to 40 hours for the next couple of months (due to my lack of sleep and need to help around the house).

    In that two-month period I realized I accomplished exactly as much and was exactly as busy as I was when I worked ~60 hours/week. From then on, I was in at 8, out at 5, aside from the occasional large project, and I completely stopped working at home. I was never happier, more organized or more successful in that job.

    With this peace of mind and free time, I was able to invest a few hours in learning the GTD system, learning more about my field and getting more involved in professional and community organizations. (This may have averaged about 3 hours/week at the max.) All that I learned in this time enabled me to get a new job and a significantly higher salary.

    Meanwhile, when I talk to employees at the old company, they’re bragging about the 75-hour workweeks and discussing which anti-anxiety meds they take.

    Great stuff!! Can we please all agree that it’s the results that count, not the hours?
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  • Quote

    Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.

    – Sigmund Freud

  • Monday Tip: Random acts of kindness at work

    The Chief Happiness Officer's monday tipsYour mission today is to perform at least three random acts of kindness at work. Three small, nice, generous, funny, surprising, silly, amazing, touching and/or kind acts for three different co-workers.

    If you’re stuck for ideas, here are a few suggestions:

    • Bring someone a cup of coffee, without them asking
    • Leave a flower on someone’s desk
    • Leave a nice, hand-written note for a co-worker
    • Help someone carry their stuff
    • Pass out candy in the hallways

    Do you have more suggestions? Write a comment!

    For bonus points, do two more random acts of kindness to total stranges on the way home from work.

    The Chief Happiness Officer’s monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.

    Previous monday tips.