Positive Workspace

It’s hard to find happiness after success, if the goal posts of success keep changing.  -Shawn Achor

Shawn Achor is a New York Times bestselling author of Before Happiness and The Happiness Advantage. He is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard. Shawn has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success.

In this fast-moving and very funny talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that happiness inspires us to be more productive.

Shawn’s learned you have to train your brain to be positive just like you workout your body. We not only need to work happy, we need to work at being happy. Try his 21-Day Challenge. Pick one of the 5 researched habits and try it out for 21 days in a row to create a positive habit.

1. Write down three new things you are grateful for each day. Research shows this will significantly improve your optimism and raises your success rates significantly.

2. Write for 2 minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours. This is a strategy to help transform you from a task-based thinker, to a meaning based thinker who scans the world for meaning instead of endless to-dos. This dramatically increases work happiness.

3. Exercise for 10 minutes a day. This trains your brain to believe your behavior matters, which causes a cascade of success throughout the rest of the day.

4.  Meditate for 2 minutes, focusing on your breath going in and out. This will help you undo the negative effects of multitasking. Research shows you get multiple tasks done faster if you do them one at a time.

5. Write one, quick email first thing in the morning thanking or praising a member on your team. This significantly increases your feeling of social support, which in my study at Harvard was the largest predictor of happiness for the students.

{Katie Ridder}

Katie Ridder’s rooms are happy and full of life.

Many experts feel that color has a definite impact on a person’s mood. Entrepreneur.com has a great article and infographic – How the Color of Your Office Impacts Productivity.

Stay inspired!

Diane

How you start the day sets your mindset for the rest of the day.

While looking for resources about morning routines I came across Adrion Porter’s Gen X Amplified podcast interview with Hal Elrod - The Miracle of a Morning Routine.  The interview could be titled, “Hal Elrod: You Only Live Twice”.  Hit head-on by a drunk driver at age 20, dead for six minutes, in a coma for six days, breaking 11 bones and being told he may never walk again, Hal defied the logic of doctors and the temptations to be a victim, and he bounced back to prove that ALL of us are capable of overcoming extraordinary adversity to create extraordinary results in our personal and professional lives.

If getting up earlier and having a morning routine is on your list of resolutions, or something you don’t think is possible for you, this book provides the tools to change your life.  Since reading The Miracle Morning in November and piecing together a custom miracle morning routine that works for me, I have consistently looked forward to getting up early to start my days and morning ritual.

At the foundation of The Miracle Morning are the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. – a set of six simple life-enhancing, life-changing daily practices: Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing – all intended to get your day started with more Energy, Motivation, and Focus.

{studio-mcgee.com}

For bright and airy office design inspiration, check out Studio McGee.  Husband and wife team Syd and Shea McGee have the most beautiful portfolio of bright and clean designs.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Natalie Eckdahl, host of the Biz Chix Podcast, led a 3-month small group Mastermind that ended last week. This energized think tank of creative entrepreneurs with varied businesses and perspectives, made for interesting conversations that sparked good action in new and exciting directions.

Here are the productivity tools they use every day:

Natalie Eckdahl, Biz Chix:  

focus@will - A new neuroscience based music service that helps you focus, reduce distractions and retain information when working, studying, writing and reading.

Carol Cox, Speaking Your Brand

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield –  The book emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline.

Heather Farrar-Ryan, Safe in the City

Cozi App - The Cozi family organizer app effortlessly manages your family calendar, shopping lists, to do lists and family journal while you’re on the go.

 Kiana Porter Isom, Edupreneur Today

Todoist - a project management application for personal and professional productivity.

Traci Antonovich, The Kitchen Girl

A personalized workflow using Trello, Evernote and Airtable

If you are considering starting or joining a mastermind group, here are a few resources:

Podcasts:  

Biz Chix – How to Start a Mastermind with Natalie Eckdahl

Goins Writer – Why Joining a Mastermind Group will Benefit You

Articles:

7 Reasons to Join a Mastermind Group

Mastermind It to Accelerate Your Success

4 Reasons Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mastermind