The Happiness Advantage and More Money

Believe that if we're successful then we'll be happy - and that success could be losing weight, securing a promotion, buying a house... In fact, as Shaun Achor proves, it's actually happiness which fuels success (think the sun moving around the Earth and not the other way around). When we're positive, we're more creative, more motivated and more resilient. We have more energy and we get on better in all areas of our life. 

This book is the result of Shaun's studies over 10 years at Harvard University, plus lots of his own research with the likes of KPMG and UPS. The Happiness Advantage can be yours he tells us, and can help you gain a competitive advantage...

A recent Guardian article reported that "people who are happier at work are more productive - they are more engaged, more creative, and have better concentration. The difference in productivity between happy and unhappy people at work can range between 10-50%. That's 10% for non-complex repetitive tasks, or up to 40-50% in service and creative industries." And that's an awful lot in terms of business revenue.

 Top Take-Away

Sounds simple, but our minds are *the* most powerful machine, and we have absolute control over how we see the world and which opportunities we choose to take. Best of all, it's also within our power to change our mindset and window on the world. Even something as simple as completing a gratitude list every day can make you happier, help you see the good in every day.

Pearls of Wisdom

There are seven principles so I'll focus on those:

People who are happy have a psychological advantage over people who are unhappy and Shaun proves this through studies over time. College Freshmen who were empirically shown to be happy had a higher income 19 years later than their unhappy classmates

The Fulcrum and the Lever talks about the power of the mindset, and comes from the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes who said, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." The fulcrum is the mindset of the person, and the length of the lever corresponds to the potential power and possibility that person believes he or she has. If someone moves the fulcrum in the right direction by adopting a more positive mindset, the lever of possibility lengthens, which leads, as empirical studies have shown conclusively, to an eventual positive outcome.

The Titres Effect focuses on a study done on students who were paid to just play Titres for days on end. Their minds started seeing the real world in Titres terms, trying to 'fit' buildings into each other. Shaun also talked about the negative power of things like GTA when he had to stop himself stealing a police car... This
principle shows how to retrain your brain to spot patterns of possibility rather than patterns of failure.

Falling Up looks not at avoiding mistakes, but doing even more than learning from them - throwing yourself into them. It's focused on how you can find the mental path out of failure

The Zorro Circle focuses on how, in the face of even overwhelming odds, you can fight off your emotions and regain control by beginning with small manageable goals. Shaun says that big goals can be too scary, and that you need to break them down into more manageable chunks sometimes

The 20-Second Rule looks at how to fight off the weakening willpower to be positive, and how you actually only need to maintain your focus for short bursts. What's easy to do is also easy not to do. Want to break a 'bad' habit? Make it difficult to access that habit - so, take the batteries out of the TV remote and leave them
over the other side of the room if you want to cut down on your viewing. Equally, if you want to start keeping a journal, don't put it away in a cupboard, even one near, leave it right next to your bed with a pen on top

Social Investment focuses on how to invest in friends, peers and family members to move forward in challenging times, and how we each have the potential to positively influence 100 people every time we choose to be happy Recommended?

Absolutely! The structure's a little loose and I had to revisit it to pick up the seven points, but the narrative is great, the examples are awesome and it's an easy, positive and inspiring read/ More money means you can do even more stuff to make you happy :-)

A former weapons engineer and submariner with the Royal Navy, his business journey started with a degree in International Disaster Engineering and Management.

He completed a Masters in Neuro Linguistic Programming currently finishing a series of interviews with some of the UK's most super, super-successful business owners to see just what mind-set and beliefs they all have in common.

Top Successful Business Keep Customers Happiness

Any successful business, you'll find a common theme. It isn't an expensive ad campaign or having a flashy product (although those things certainly help); ultimately what it comes down to is taking good care of the customer.

Let's take for example the tanning industry. This is an industry that is built on face- to- face interaction and direct sales to customers. The model for many tanning salons has customers returning on a frequent basis. This is a great model for return business and referrals which can be enhanced by taking care of the customer.

What most retailers don't know is that if a customer has a bad experience they are very likely to share this information with friends and family. Some studies estimate that a negative experience will be retold nine to fifteen times. That in itself is quite astounding, but this factor can be multiplied exponentially through review sites like Yelp and Google Local.

So is the answer just to keep customers happy? Yes it is, but there are several factors that lead to a customer's happiness. A properly trained staff that is polite and friendly can really go a long way to making customers happy. Additionally, ensuring that tanning beds are working and providing tanning lotions also enhance the retail experience.

Where many tanning salons can really shine is in their tanning booths. At an initial glance this looks like a costly and time consuming process, but it doesn't have to be. Many salons have found amazing success by using modular tanning walls. Modular construction fabricates all the walls, doors and other components off site and then ships them to the salon where there are assembled incredibly quick. These modular salon walls not only look amazing; they also can be moved or reconfigured quite easily.

Lastly, it is important to make a good first impression with salon customers. Many salons choose to transform their lobby into a place that is not only comfortable for their clients but also showcases some of the products they are selling. Placing a friendly staff person in the lobby will ensure the first impression a customer gets of the salon is a good one.

By taking care of the customer through providing great service and a comfortable atmosphere you'll be taking steps to ensure a positive rapport with your customers. If these steps aren't taken, the potential for a damaged reputation that is spread vi rally could have drastic consequences. very important customer's happiness.