1: “What is your greatest fear?”
Rosa read the question before looking across the kitchen table at her husband, Henry.
“Now in their 70s, Rosa and Henry had lived in this house and sat at this same table together on most mornings for more than fifty years,” Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz write in The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.
A pot of … continue reading
1: “Most of what we know about human life we know from asking people to remember the past,” Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz write in The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.
The only problem with this approach?
People’s “memories are full of holes,” the authors write.” Just try to remember what you had for dinner last Tuesday, or who you spoke with on … continue reading
1: “If you had to make one life choice, right now, to set yourself on the path to future health and happiness, what would it be?” Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz ask in The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.
Would we start saving more money? Change our occupation? Decide to travel more?
Back in 2007, a group of millennials were surveyed regarding their … continue reading
1: Not as much as we might think.
“Like an iceberg, salary and benefits are the visible part,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.
“But they comprise less than 15 percent of our motivation,” he notes.
The research shows that 85 percent of the reasons we are engaged at work lie below the surface.
“And that part,” Fred notes, “is composed of respect, … continue reading
1: What exactly is the “parenthood paradox”?
Research shows that most parents of grown-up children are very happy they’ve had them, Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution.
Yet, parents still living with children in the home score low on happiness.
So what’s going on here?
“It seems that raising kids decreases happiness but increases meaning,” Fred observes.
Which suggests a higher-level insight: “Happiness and meaning often build on … 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. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
The last several Fridays we’ve been exploring ideas on how to have better and deeper conversations. We’ll continue with this theme in upcoming Fridays as we revisit ideas from prior … continue reading
1: Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s believed he discovered the “secret to happiness.”
He labeled it “the flow state.” It’s when we are completely absorbed in an activity. Also known as being “in the zone,” we lose our sense of time. Our actions and awareness become one in which we have a heightened sense of control.
We enter the flow state through as part of a four-step process. So far this week, … continue reading
1: Remember the classic 1946 Frank Capra film It’s a Wonderful Life?
George Bailey is about to jump off a bridge and end his life.
An angel named Clarence appears. He “takes George through a spiritual tour of the world as it would have been had George never been born,” Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy write in The Gap and The Gain: The High Achiever’s Guide to Happiness, Confidence, … continue reading
1: The year was 1930.
One hundred eighty young women had just become nuns at the School of Sisters of Notre Dame. They were asked to write autobiographical journal entries.
“More than five decades later, researchers coded the entries for positive emotional content,” Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy write in The Gap and The Gain: The High Achiever’s Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success.
The psychologists doing the study … 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. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
There are two ways we can measure our progress, Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy tell us in their book The Gap and the Gain.
The first way is … continue reading
