1: Think back to a moment that brought you joy.
“Choose a good moment from the last week, something that made you feel happy, hopeful, proud, or close to someone,” Kelly McGonigal suggests in her book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking.
Perhaps it’s “the pride and hope you feel when you make progress on a difficult goal that encourages you to keep striving.”
Or, perhaps it’s “the love … continue reading
1: So what exactly is happening in your brain when you experience joy?
Two interconnected systems, the reward system and the meaning system, work together, Kelly McGonigal writes in her new book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking.
“During a good moment,” Kelly notes, “these two brain systems communicate with each other to produce the essence of joy—a feeling of meaningful pleasure, uplift, or relief.”
She notes that your … continue reading
1: “Lately, I feel joy when I do burpees.”
That’s what Christina, a 43-year-old poet from Kingskettle, Scotland, said when asked what brought her joy.
“A burpee is a physical exercise that involves dropping to the ground and getting back up again,” Kelly McGonigal writes in her new book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking.
Burpees are tough and exhausting. Who actually enjoys doing burpees?
But for Christina, Kelly … continue reading
1: Joy does more than make you feel good.
“People who welcome joy, and who make the most of a good moment, report more positive emotions, gratitude for life, and overall happiness,”Kelly McGonigal writes in her new book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking.
The research is clear. “They feel greater social belonging and harmony and enjoy more closeness with friends and family.”
They “also experience more hope, … continue reading
1: You might think joy would be an easy emotion to embrace, Kelly McGonigal writes in her new book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking.
“But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the last decade of studying this emotion, it’s that for many people— even those who want more meaning, pleasure, connection, and hope in life—joy can be a hard feeling to trust.”
Why does this happen?
“Some … continue reading
1: “Joy is not, as many people believe, a frivolous or selfish emotion,” Kelly McGonigal writes in her new book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking.
“Nor is joy only possible when every aspect of life is going well.”
So, what is joy?
Kelly describes it as “the uplift you experience in moments that connect you to something that makes life worth living.” She adds, “It’s the flash of … continue reading
1: “I’ve only experienced joy a few times in my life,” Kelly McGonigal‘s eighty-year-old father said when she told him she was writing a book about joy.
She asked him what those experiences were.
“The first moment he shared happened in 1977, a few weeks after my twin sister and I were born,” Kelly writes in her new book Joy is a Risk Worth Taking. “My mom was … continue reading
1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations.
At the end of each week, I’ve been sharing an idea from Tynan’s book Superhuman by Habit about how to install specific, positive habits into your life.
So far, we’ve covered:
1: Imagine you’ve just been offered a promotion.
A big promotion. One that will accelerate your career and give you greater responsibility.
“And it pays enough to help soften the blow of displacement,” Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, and their co-authors write in their book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High.
“That last part is important,” the authors say, “because you’ll have to move the … continue reading
1: You notice that your generally high-performing assistant regularly shows up late to meetings.
When you bring up your concern, he looks genuinely upset.
Now what?
A common mistake is downplaying your feedback by saying, “You know it’s really not that big a deal.”
A smarter approach comes from Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, and their co-authors in their classic book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are … continue reading
