Spread Happiness at Work

happiness and its positive effects on our productivity and learning capabilities, we know that we are more successful, more resilient and more receptive to new knowledge when our happy hormone, dopamine, is running in our bloodstream. Now wouldn’t it be awesome if we could share a portion of our happiness to the people around us, particularly those we work with? We spend half of our waking hours at work, with people we see more often than our own relatives. When Shawn Achor, the author of The Happiness Advantage, shared the five habits we can cultivate for 21 days to lead happier lives, he was referring to individual improvement. His further studies showed a slightly different tactic for an office setting.

These latest arguments and tactics are not as intuitive as the daily gratitudes and other happiness habits spelled out in Achor’s first book. But he has tried to make them more concrete with a 66-page parable. “The Orange Frog: Sparking a Culture of Positivity, Happiness and Success” is the story of Spark, a frog living in a community of green frogs beaten down by storms and hunted by herons. Spark is initially outcast because he has a bit of orange coloring, which increases as he does things like appreciate the beauty of a pond and enjoy a swim. But he chooses to embrace the orange. And his positivity proves contagious to all the frogs around him, improving their fly hunting as well as their ability to weather storms and avoid heron attacks.

So how to be that orange frog?

Be pleasant and cheerful

For overall good vibes, spread cheer yourself. If you’re feeling great, it shouldn’t be that hard to exude that warmth and calm and pleasantness to your colleagues. Even the grumpiest co-worker couldn’t ignore a sincere and genuine “good morning!” As Shawn Achor has shared, positive inception is the best way to infect others with your enthusiasm.

Positive inception is similar to the movie “Inception,” where Leonardo DiCaprio and others generate dream worlds that are in some ways quite real. “The final step is actually sharing that positive reality with other people to sustain it,” Achor said. “They create what we call a success franchise. They create a pattern that can, when shared, cause others to shift their reality.”

Greet everyone you meet with a smile, or a wave. Don’t be shy to throw in “I hope your weekend went well,” or “Hey, I heard you did a good job with the presentation yesterday.” Make someone’s gloomy day sunshiny and bright with your own brand of happy feels.

Organize a coffee or cocktail session

The economy is not helping companies boost their employees’ morale these days — what with some cost cutting measures that have to be implemented in order to sustain growth or just break even. Instead of waiting for a company-initiated employee event, why not invite your office friends, and have them invite their other friends, for some Friday night drinks where you can enjoy talking about other things aside from work? You don’t have to be best buddies with your co-workers but going out and having fun with them beyond office hours could help untangle stressed and harassed nerves. Unwinding after a particularly difficult work week means that you would be more than ready to face the next week. Getting your colleagues out for some R&R would definitely renew their enthusiasm and make them feel better the next time you see them.

Random acts of kindness

The fifth habit of happy people, which is being kind, would be more than appreciated in a workplace where everyone seems not to have enough time to be nice to everyone. According to several studies conducted in the US and UK, performing random acts of kindness do not only benefit the giver, but the receiver, as well, as they become inspired to perform better, and do their own good deed in turn. If your boss is a bit frazzled because she hasn’t had her coffee yet, volunteer to get her a cup while you’re out to get yours, too. Volunteer to mentor a new colleague if he needs some assistance with his new tasks. Bring an extra sandwich for your cube mate who always seem to be buried in his work. Simple tasks like these go a long way in turning an otherwise drab and impossible day to a more manageable one. Did you brighten someone’s day at work lately? Tell us how you did it in the comments section so we can share it everyone here and make our work life pleasant  five days a week!   Photo Credit: Unsplash]]>