stay together, learn the flowers, go light.

YES! My younger cousin, Melissa, just started a tumblr blog (not to mention, a wood-themed one…) to share her insights on some of her favorite Ted Talk videos.  This one by Shawn Achor is especially evocative and entertaining.

I’m excited to follow, cuz!

tranthropology:

I really enjoyed this TED Talk about the power of positive thinking. Shawn Achor is a very witty and entertaining speaker. See? Nerds like laughing too. However, he speaks ridiculously fast, which means I had to watch this video multiple times to really grasp everything he says. In any case, I highly recommend it.

In his talk, Achor critiques a popular train of thought, which posits, “If I work harder, I’ll be more successful. And If I’m more successful, then I’ll be happier.”

Guilty as charged; I have been all my life. On one hand, I’m glad I did because I (and my dad too) always pushed me to do my best, even though neither of us ever seemed to be completely satisfied. “You got a 98 on your test? What happened to the other 2 points? You got a 100 on your test? What, was there no extra credit?” On the other hand, Achor really makes me wonder if I could’ve achieved more if I had just accepted my achievements as successes. I guess I’ll never know.

Achor thinks that we often forget to enjoy our successes because we push our goalposts for success back as we are approaching the original goal. Because we don’t reach the goalpost, we find it difficult to achieve happiness. I can relate. I have a job that pays the bills (though realistically it’d be tough to do so without my parents’ help), but there are times - every single day - when I am bitter that I went to grad school to get a job that only requires a 4 year degree. I think I should be doing ‘better,’ whatever that means… making more money, doing something fewer people are capable of doing, etc.  I’ll start my (free!) MBA in July, and even though I am interested in some aspects of business, I’m really doing it to bulk up my resume so that I can find a “better” job. I often forget how happy I was to get the job in the first place. I was far more drawn to my current job than the other job that was more or less on the table - for multiple reasons - yet I complain about my job every single day. I’ll try to remind myself that I have a lot to be thankful for.

After all, Achor claims that the brain - at a positive - is 31% more productive than the brain at a negative, neutral, or stressed state. It will work harder, faster, and more intelligently. Perhaps it’s time to train my brain to scan the world for the positives as opposed to the negatives.