Book Review: The Happiness Advantage

by | Feb 19, 2014 | Book Reviews

Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes, 38s.

The Happiness Advantage

I’ve been reading a ton of books for AYOP lately, but I’ll admit I’ve been slacking on reviewing them, partly because I’d rather write articles where I talk about the most valuable, practical lessons I learn from the books. I couldn’t help but write a review on this book, though!

Brief Synopsis/Review

Most people approach happiness from the wrong direction. They constantly push their own happiness off into the future, promising themselves that they’ll find ways to become happy after they make a bit more money, become a bit more productive, or achieve a bit more. But all of the research out there says that this doesn’t work. In fact, it points in the other direction.

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Shawn Achor, the author of The Happiness Advantage, has picked apart all of the studies out there and conducted a few of his own, and has found that “happiness leads to success in nearly every domain, including work, health, friendship, sociability, creativity, and energy”. It doesn’t work the other way around.

In The Happiness Advantage, Achor makes the convincing case that happier people not only enjoy themselves more, but they’re also more productive. The data shows that “happy workers have higher levels of productivity, produce higher sales, perform better in leadership positions, and receive higher performance ratings and higher pay. They also enjoy more job security and are less likely to take sick days, to quit, or to become burned out. …The list of the benefits of happiness in the workplace goes on and on.”

You should read this book, particularly because your happiness has been shown to positive affect pretty much every aspect of your life–including your productivity.

What you’ll get out of it

  • Seven practical strategies for how to become happier, so you can live a more meaningful life and become more productive
  • A no-bullshit look at the scientific research surrounding happiness and productivity
  • A lot of entertaining and engaging stories that make the book fun to read

Will it make you more productive?

The reason I wrote this review is because I think this book will absolutely make you more productive, and that you’ll get a lot of value out of it. Since your happiness has such a profound affect on your productivity, I think this book is a must-read.

 

The Happiness Advantage rating

 

Written by Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity and is the author of three books: How to Calm Your Mind, Hyperfocus, and The Productivity Project. His books have been published in more than 40 languages. Chris writes about productivity on this site and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they can become more productive without hating the process.

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