This is a series on a book called The Happiness Advantage, written by Shawn Achor. Shawn shares many of the principles of Harvard’s famous Happiness Course taught by Tal Ben-Shahar.

The basic premise of the book is very simple: Happiness makes you more productive.

I wanted to share some of the key points I took away from the book, along with some examples of how we put these happiness principles into practice at Exygy.

The Positive Tetris Effect

Remember when you used to play Tetris for hours, and then you became “Tetris-ized”, and everything you saw got turned into Tetris blocks? That’s because your brain tends to continue to process activities and events many hours and even days afterward.

This principle can be used positively: Watch a funny video on YouTube and you’ll find yourself in a better mood even hours later. Or negatively: Spend 2 hours watching a scary movie and you’ll find yourself on edge any time you hear a noise or go into a dark room.

So how do we use this principle at Exygy?

Sharing funny videos with the team

For instance, Pierre recently shared this one about the amazing Mantis Shrimp:

Sending out funny animated gifs to the team

For instance, Aaron sent this one out after we received praise from a tough-to-please client:

Organizing fun activities such as disc golf at Golden Gate Park

Reading / Watching / Listening to positive material

Personally I love:

• Brian Johnson’s Philosopher’s Notes
• Live in the Grey
• Greater Good at Cal-Berkeley.
• …and anything by Wayne Dyer

If you liked this post, check out more of the “Happiness at Work” Series.