There is a debate that has been raging between people dedicated to the pursuit of happiness and those who call themselves realists.
The realists say that happy people are shallow and ignorant. In fact there seems to be a long held cultural belief that happy people are happy because they ignore the facts of life. In other words they are stupid.
A decade worth of research points to the opposite and in fact, demonstrates that If you value health, longevity and productivity, then the happy person just may be the smarter of the two.
A Dutch study concluded that happy people live longer. Productivity researchers, Wright & Russle demonstrated that happy workers are more productive than neutral or unhappy workers.
Being happy about what you are doing in the moment does not seem to positively affect your results one way or the other. Yet, the latest research does point to being a happy person, in general, does have a dramatic, positive effect on your creativity, productivity and resourcefulness.
After personally coaching more than 8,000 people over the last 17 years, I’ve had to confront the idea that happiness played a major role in productivity. My coaching practice was built on doling out best practices to increase productivity.
Early on I was intrigued by events where a novice entrepreneur or salesman outperformed a veteran. Eventually, I came to realize that, the enthusiasm of the novice played a central role in their initial success. In the late 90’s, I shifted my focus from best practices to tools that positively impacted well being and I have spent the last decade teaching people how to be happy to increase their productivity.
I assert that happiness is a skill that anyone can learn.
Author
Matthew Ferry