Last year I wrote about my Fitbit, which I had become very attached to. The impact the Fitbit had on me was a surprise: I went from being someone who already exercised a lot, to someone who exercised even more. A few months ago, I lost my Fitbit. It was…
Here's another reason it's so hard to eat well. While people are more driven to avoid pain than they are driven to pursue pleasure, the pain of bad health is not immediately visible. So the pleasure of a eating a piece of cake is stronger than the idea of the…
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, lost her husband to a tragic accident. Sandberg, who is quite famous for her book, Lean In, is writing a book with Adam Grant, the author of two of my favorite recent books, Give and Take and Originals. In a commencement speech at…
Back in December, I wrote about an extremely enjoyable and edifying discussion I had with Michelle Gielan. Michelle is the author of Broadcasting Happiness and, along with Shawn Achor (author of The Happiness Advantage, one of the great books I read during the last few years), has created Inspire Happiness,…
I read a New York Times Magazine article by Jennifer Kahn called “The Happiness Code”. Kahn spent time at the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) in Berkeley and reported on the experience. The idea of tying rationality to happiness habits appeals to me. Many of my habits come about because…
As I have done for each of the past few years, here are the many ways I enjoyed the experiences of my year: places I visited, books I read, what I watched on TV, and more. Books I love reading and I love learning. I read quite a bit every…
I write a lot about the importance of what I call Proactive Positivity. Because people have a natural ability to think about negative things, we need to work to offset that by being proactive about what's positive in our lives. There many good positivity exercises, for example, daily (or weekly)…
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend some time on the phone with Michelle Gielan this week. I loved our conversation. Michelle is the author of Broadcasting Happiness and, along with Shawn Achor, author The Happiness Advantage (one of the great books I read during the last few…
This is a guest post by Frank Lavine. We’ve all been there – I know I have. The majority of my friends and family have, too. The “all-time low” that we can find ourselves dealing with is a stressful, challenging part of life. There is no shame in hitting a…
A quick google search on “choosing happiness books” yields hits such as Choosing Happiness, Just Choose Happiness, I Choose Happiness, and many more. I haven’t read those particular books, but I’ve read countless books on, or related to, happiness, and I work hard to choose happiness for myself. When I…
A bunch of times, when I've mentioned the name of my book to people I've gotten this response: "Sounds easy. Six rules. I love it." I accept their positive feedback, but I don't feel entirely comfortable with their comment. I feel like I need to explain, "The rules are simple,…
Last year, as part of our corporate wellness program, we bought Fitbits for everyone (for anyone who wanted one, the cost was a $5 donation to charity.) I wrote about it in September in my monthly newsletter and received some great feedback, so I want to share it here as…