A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that being likable—making those around you feel good about themselves—is more important to your success than how competent you are. Citing this study and other research, an article in USA Today stated that likable people are favored by their coworkers, have a profound positive influence on customers and are…
Some people look at performing acts of kindness as the expenditure of time and effort to benefit someone else. This is simply not true. The big winner for being kind is you—for several reasons. First, performing acts of kindness makes you happier and the more acts of kindness you perform, the happier you become. Second,…
The interesting thing about happiness is that the harder we pursue it, the more it eludes us. Some people think that if they could just have a certain job, car, house or live in a certain neighborhood, they will be happy. Then, when they get these things, they find they’re still unhappy. As former Supreme…
While nearly everyone has an opinion on what it takes to achieve success, there are very few proven formulas. Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM offers us this one: “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking failure is the…
At the end of his book, I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This, comedian Bob Newhart shares his observations of people who have a sense of humor—the ability to appreciate and express the funny side of life. “I’ve noticed that people with a sense of humor tend to be less egocentric and more realistic in their view…
An article by Dorie Clark which appeared in entrepreneur.com featured a book titled, Broadcasting Happiness written by Michelle Gielan. The book describes a study where participants were divided into two groups. Each group watched a three-minute news video early in the morning. One group watched a video that contained negative stories while the other watched a…
Whenever I ask people how they are going to deal with a particular problem if it were ever to occur in the future, the response I often hear is, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” In other words, I’ll deal with that problem if it occurs, but I don’t want to be…
Whenever I ask people how they are going to deal with a particular problem if it were ever to occur in the future, the response I often hear is, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” In other words, I’ll deal with that problem if it occurs, but I don’t want to be…
Growth experiences—those forays into the difficult and unfamiliar—are often challenging and sometimes painful. This is why many people choose to avoid them—they prefer to stay within the friendly confines of their “comfort zone.” Successfully navigating these growth experiences is how we learn and how we strengthen our self-confidence. Once you have succeeded at something that…
I have a friend named Paul who has been in and out of the hospital numerous times during the past several years. When Paul returned home from his last trip to the hospital, he had no appetite and was eating very little. After a while, his daughter who is a nurse, became concerned that if…