TED英语演讲稿：改善工作的快乐之道

如何在工作中获取快乐的英文作文English Answer:Finding Joy in Your Work.Work is an essential part of our lives, often consuming a significant portion of our time and energy. While it may not always be glamorous or fulfilling, it is possible to find joy and satisfaction in our work, regardless of our job title or industry.1. Identify Your Passions and Interests:Start by reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what motivates you. Identify the aspects of your work that you find engaging and rewarding. Focus on these areas and seek out opportunities to do more of what you love.2. Set Meaningful Goals:When you have a clear sense of purpose and direction, your work becomes more meaningful. Set achievable goals that align with your values and aspirations. Accomplishing these goals will provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.3. Develop Your Skills and Knowledge:Continuously learning and expanding your skillset can bring joy to your work. Embrace new challenges and opportunities to grow your professional knowledge and abilities. This will enhance your confidence and make your work more enjoyable.4. Build Positive Relationships:Surrounding yourself with supportive and positive colleagues can significantly improve your work experience. Nurture relationships with coworkers, mentors, and supervisors. Collaboration and teamwork can foster a sense of community and make work more enjoyable.5. Practice Gratitude:Take time to appreciate the good things in your work life, no matter how small. Focusing on the positive aspects of your job can shift your perspective and cultivate a sense of gratitude.6. Set Boundaries:Establish clear boundaries between work and personal life. Avoid overloading yourself with work and delegate tasks when possible. This will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and reduce stress.7. Take Breaks:Regular breaks throughout the workday can help you stay energized and prevent burnout. Step away from your desk, socialize with colleagues, or pursue a relaxing hobby during your breaks.8. Seek Support:If you find yourself struggling to find joy in your work, don't hesitate to seek support from colleagues, mentors, or a professional therapist. They can provide valuable insights and guidance.Chinese Answer:如何在工作中获得快乐。

如何在工作中获得快乐的英语作文英文回答：In order to find happiness at work, it is important to focus on creating a positive and fulfilling environment for yourself. One way to achieve this is by establishing good relationships with your colleagues. Building strong connections with your coworkers can create a sense of camaraderie and support, making the work environment more enjoyable.Another key factor in finding happiness at work is to set realistic goals and celebrate your achievements. By setting achievable goals for yourself, you can stay motivated and feel a sense of accomplishment when you reach them. This can boost your morale and overall satisfaction with your job.Additionally, it is important to find meaning and purpose in your work. Understanding how your rolecontributes to the overall success of the company can give you a sense of fulfillment and pride in what you do. When you feel like your work has a purpose, it can make thedaily tasks more meaningful and enjoyable.Furthermore, taking care of your physical and mentalwell-being is crucial for finding happiness at work. Making sure to take breaks, exercise, and practice self-care can help reduce stress and improve your overall mood. A healthy work-life balance is essential for maintaining a positive mindset and enjoying your job.In conclusion, finding happiness at work is possible by building relationships, setting goals, finding purpose, and taking care of yourself. By focusing on these aspects, you can create a more positive and fulfilling work experiencefor yourself.中文回答：要在工作中获得快乐，重要的是要创造一个积极而充实的环境。

英文作文工作应该开心英文：Work should be a source of happiness and fulfillment in our lives. As someone who has experienced both the joys and struggles of work, I can confidently say that a positive attitude and a sense of purpose are key to enjoying one's job.Firstly, it's important to find work that aligns with your values and interests. This can be challenging, butit's worth the effort to seek out a job that you're passionate about. When you're working in a field that you care about, it's easier to stay motivated and engaged with your work.Secondly, it's important to cultivate a positive attitude towards work. This doesn't mean that you have to love every aspect of your job, but it does mean that you should approach your work with a sense of gratitude and awillingness to learn and grow. When you're able to find meaning in your work, even the most mundane tasks can become opportunities for personal and professional development.Finally, it's important to cultivate positive relationships with your colleagues and superiors. When you feel supported and valued by the people you work with, it's easier to stay motivated and engaged with your work. Building strong relationships with your coworkers can also lead to new opportunities and collaborations that can enhance your career.In short, work should be a source of happiness and fulfillment, and it's up to us to cultivate a positive attitude and sense of purpose in our jobs.中文：工作应该是我们生活中的一种幸福和满足的来源。

TED改善工作的快乐之道观后感
案例一：
当我看完TED改善工作的快乐之道后有了非常多的感想。

我们接受到的激励模式是这样的：努力工作获得成功收获快乐这个TED中肖恩·阿克尔告诉你，这个模式从科学角度说是不成立的，是落后的：每次你觉得成功的时候，你就会对成功重新进行定义。

这次成绩考好了，下一次会要求考更高；这份工作很好，那下一份更好的工作又变成你的下一个目标；这让我想起了我妈妈炒股的情景，亏了，那肯定是不开心，赚钱了但是没有赚到最高点，也不开心。

这就像是一个死循环，永远找不到开心的那一天。

但真正的问题是我们的大脑却在相反的方向运行。

如果你现在可以提高某个人的积极心理程度，那么他的大脑就会经历我们称为快乐优势论的过程，这时你的大脑在积极方面的表现明显优于它在消极、中立或者沮丧方面的表现，你的智商提高、创造力提高、精力也提高了。

将工作变成乐趣英文作文英文：Turning work into fun is something that I have always strived for in my career. I believe that when you enjoy what you do, you will be more motivated and productive. There are several strategies that I have used to make my work more enjoyable.Firstly, I always try to find the positive aspects of my job. Even if there are tasks that I don't particularly enjoy, I focus on the end result and the impact it will have. For example, if I have to do a tedious data entry task, I remind myself that it will contribute to the overall success of the project and that motivates me to do it well.Secondly, I like to create a fun and positive work environment. I often organize team-building activities or social events to boost morale and create a sense ofcamaraderie among my colleagues. This not only makes work more enjoyable, but also strengthens our teamwork and collaboration.Moreover, I try to incorporate my personal interests into my work whenever possible. For instance, if I enjoy photography, I might suggest taking photos for a company event or incorporating visual elements into a presentation. This allows me to express my creativity and passion in my work, making it more fulfilling.In addition, I always set small goals for myself and celebrate my achievements. This helps me stay motivated and gives me a sense of accomplishment, making my work more enjoyable. I also take breaks when needed and make sure to maintain a healthy work-life balance.Overall, by finding the positives, creating a positive work environment, incorporating personal interests, setting goals, and maintaining a healthy balance, I have been able to turn my work into something that I genuinely enjoy.中文：将工作变成乐趣是我一直以来在职业生涯中努力追求的目标。

如何在工作中获取快乐的英文作文英文回答：Finding happiness at work is essential for a fulfilling career and overall well-being. There are several ways to achieve happiness in the workplace, and I will share some strategies that have worked for me.First and foremost, it is crucial to have a positive mindset. This means focusing on the good aspects of your job rather than dwelling on the negatives. For example, instead of complaining about a difficult project, I try to see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. By reframing my perspective, I can approach challenges with enthusiasm and a can-do attitude.Another key factor in finding happiness at work is building positive relationships with colleagues. Having a supportive and friendly work environment can greatly contribute to job satisfaction. I make an effort to connectwith my coworkers on a personal level, whether it's through grabbing lunch together or engaging in casual conversations. These interactions not only make the workday more enjoyable but also foster a sense of camaraderie and teamwork.Moreover, finding meaning and purpose in your work is essential for long-term happiness. Understanding how your role contributes to the bigger picture can give you a sense of fulfillment. For instance, if I'm working on a project that directly impacts the lives of others, such as developing a new product that improves people's health, it gives me a sense of purpose and motivates me to do my best.Additionally, taking care of your well-being outside of work is crucial for maintaining happiness in the workplace. Engaging in activities that bring you joy and help yourelax can have a positive impact on your overall mood and mindset. For example, I enjoy practicing yoga andmeditation in my free time, which helps me stay calm and focused during stressful work situations.In conclusion, finding happiness at work is possible bycultivating a positive mindset, building positive relationships, finding meaning in your work, and takingcare of your well-being. By implementing these strategies, you can create a more enjoyable and fulfilling work experience.中文回答：在工作中获得快乐对于一个充实的职业生涯和整体幸福感至关重要。

改善工作的快乐之道我们发现，一个人的一生中只有百分之十是快乐的，其余的百分之九十取决于我们对待事物的积极态度与否，人脉，把压力视为挑战而不是威胁的能力决定的。

一直以来，我们认为，只要我们成功，我们就会变得快乐，其实这种观点是错误的，原因是尽管我们获得了成功，但是我们会继续修改我们对成功的定义，我们会要求更好的成绩，刚好的销售记录，更高的薪水等等。

我们会一直把成功的定义提高的社会认知层面以外。

让自己苦不堪言。

事实上，大脑却不这么想，大脑会认为，如果可以提高某个人的积极心理程度，那么，大脑就会经历我们称之为快乐优势论的过程，这时大脑在积极方面的表现，明显优于消极中立，沮丧时候的表现。

智商，创造力，精力都会提高。

积极的态度比消极的态度可以提高生产力百分之三十七左右。

当我们变得积极时，多巴胺会进入我们的大脑，他会有两个功能，第一个是让我们变得快乐，其次就是打开大脑中所有的学习中心。

让你以另一种方式去适应这个世界。

下面是如何让大脑变得更加积极：１，连续二十一天，每天写下三件让自己感谢的新事情。

试验一结束，大脑就会形成一种模式，会以积极的心态看待这个世界，而不是消极的。

２，回顾过去２４小时你所经历的一件积极的事情。

会让你重新经历一遍这样一件事，实践告诉人们，你的行为是很重要的。

３，冥想可以克服文化多动症，这个多动症是由于我们同时做不同的事情造成的。

冥想让你可以集中精力在手头的一件工作中。

４，最后，看似随机的善举，其实是有意识的，当人打开邮箱后，给某个人写一封感谢信，表扬或者感谢某个人。

通过这些行为，其实就是在训练我们的大脑，我们发现，我们完全可以改变快乐与成功的准则。

我们可以创造出积极的影响力。

甚至能创造出真正的革命。

如何在工作中获得乐趣英语作文How to Find Joy at Work.Finding joy at work can be a challenge, especially in today's demanding and fast-paced work environment. However, it is essential for our overall well-being and productivity to find ways to make our work more enjoyable. Here are a few tips on how to find joy at work:Do what you love. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is important to find a job that aligns with your interests and passions. When you are passionate about your work, it will be easier to find joy in it.Set realistic goals. When you set unrealistic goals, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, set goals that are challenging but achievable. This will help you stay motivated and engaged in your work.Take breaks. It is important to take breaks throughoutthe day, even if it is just for a few minutes. Getting up and moving around, or taking a few deep breaths, can help you clear your head and come back to your work refreshed.Build relationships with your colleagues. Having positive relationships with your colleagues can make work more enjoyable. Make an effort to get to know your co-workers and build relationships with them.Learn new things. One way to keep your workinteresting is to learn new things. This could involve taking on new challenges, attending workshops, or reading industry publications.Find purpose in your work. When you understand the purpose of your work, it becomes easier to find joy in it. Take some time to reflect on why you do what you do and how it contributes to the bigger picture.Be grateful for what you have. It is easy to get caught up in the daily grind and forget to appreciate the good things in our lives. Take some time each day to begrateful for your job, your colleagues, and your work environment.Be kind to yourself. When you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, it is important to be kind to yourself. Take some time to relax and do something you enjoy. Remember that you are human and that it is okay to make mistakes.如何让工作充满乐趣。

TED英语演讲稿：改善工作的快乐之道when i was seven years old and my sister was just five years old, we were playing on top of a bunk bed. i was two years older than my sister at the time -- i mean, i'm two years older than her now -- but at the time it meant she had to do everything that i wanted to do, and i wanted to play war. so we were up on top of our bunk beds. and on one side of the bunk bed, i had put out all of my g.i. joe soldiers and weaponry. and on the other side were all my sister's my little ponies ready for a cavalry charge.there are differing accounts of what actually happened that afternoon, but since my sister is not here with us today, let me tell you the true story -- (laughter) -- which is my sister's a little bit on the clumsy side. somehow, without any help or push from her older brother at all, suddenly amy disappeared off of the top of the bunk bed and landed with this crash on the floor. now i nervously peered over the side of the bed to see what had befallen my fallen sister and saw that she had landed painfully on her hands and knees on all fours on the ground.i was nervous because my parents had charged me with making sure that my sister and i played as safely and as quietly as possible. and seeing as how i had accidentally broken amy's arm just one week before ... (laughter) ... heroically pushing her out of the way of an oncoming imaginary sniper bullet, (laughter) for which i have yet to be thanked, i was trying as hard as i could -- she didn't even see it coming -- i was trying as hard as i could to be on my best behavior.and i saw my sister's face, this wail of pain and suffering and surprisethreatening to erupt from her mouth and threatening to wake my parents from the long winter's nap for which they had settled. so i did the only thing my little frantic seven year-old brain could think to do to avert this tragedy. and if you have children, you've seen this hundreds of times before. i said, "amy, amy, wait. don't cry. don't cry. did you see how you landed? no human lands on all fours like that. amy, i think this means you're a unicorn."(laughter)now that was cheating, because there was nothing in the world my sister would want more than not to be amy the hurt five year-old little sister, but amy the special unicorn. of course, this was an option that was open to her brain at no point in the past. and you could see how my poor, manipulated sister faced conflict, as her little brain attempted to devote resources to feeling the pain and suffering and surprise she just experienced, or contemplating her new-found identity as a unicorn. and the latter won out. instead of crying, instead of ceasing our play, instead of waking my parents, with all the negative consequences that would have ensued for me, instead a smile spread across her face and she scrambled right back up onto the bunk bed with all the grace of a baby unicorn ... (laughter) ... with one broken leg.what we stumbled across at this tender age of just five and seven -- we had no idea at the time -- was something that was going be at the vanguard of a scientific revolution occurring two decades later in the way that we look at the human brain. what we had stumbled across is something called positive psychology, which is the reason that i'm here today and the reason that i wake up every morning.when i first started talking about this research outside of academia, out withcompanies and schools, the very first thing they said to never do is to start your talk with a graph. the very first thing i want to do is start my talk with a graph. this graph looks boring, but this graph is the reason i get excited and wake up every morning. and this graph doesn't even mean anything; it's fake data. what we found is --(laughter)if i got this data back studying you here in the room, i would be thrilled, because there's very clearly a trend that's going on there, and that means that i can get published, which is all that really matters. the fact that there's one weird red dot that's up above the curve, there's one weirdo in the room -- i know who you are, i saw you earlier -- that's no problem. that's no problem, as most of you know, because i can just delete that dot. i can delete that dot because that's clearly a measurement error. and we know that's a measurement error because it's messing up my data.so one of the very first things we teach people in economics and statistics and business and psychology courses is how, in a statistically valid way, do we eliminate the weirdos. how do we eliminate the outliers so we can find the line of best fit? which is fantastic if i'm trying to find out how many advil the average person should be taking -- two. but if i'm interested in potential, if i'm interested in your potential, or for happiness or productivity or energy or creativity, whatwe're doing is we're creating the cult of the average with science.if i asked a question like, "how fast can a child learn how to read in a classroom?" scientists change the answer to "how fast does the average child learnhow to read in that classroom?" and then we tailor the class right towards the average. now if you fall below the average on this curve, then psychologists get thrilled, because that means you're either depressed or you have a disorder, or hopefully both. we're hoping for both because our business model is, if you come into a therapy session with one problem, we want to make sure you leave knowing you have 10, so you keep coming back over and over again. we'll go back into your childhood if necessary, but eventually what we want to do is make you normal again. but normal is merely average.and what i posit and what positive psychology posits is that if we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average. then instead of deleting those positive outliers, what i intentionally do is come into a population like this one and say, why? why is it that some of you are so high above the curve in terms of your intellectual ability, athletic ability, musical ability, creativity, energy levels, your resiliency in the face of challenge, your sense of humor? whatever it is, instead of deleting you, what i want to do is study you. because maybe we can glean information -- not just how to move people up to the average, but how we can move the entire average up in our companies and schools worldwide.the reason this graph is important to me is, when i turn on the news, it seems like the majority of the information is not positive, in fact it's negative. most of it's about murder, corruption, diseases, natural disasters. and very quickly, my brain starts to think that's the accurate ratio of negative to positive in the world. what that's doing is creating something called the medical school syndrome -- which, if you know people who've been to medical school, during the first year of medical training, as you read through a list of all the symptoms and diseases that could happen, suddenly you realize you have all of them.i have a brother in-law named bobo -- which is a whole other story. bobo married amy the unicorn. bobo called me on the phone from yale medical school, and bobo said, "shawn, i have leprosy." (laughter) which, even at yale, is extraordinarily rare. but i had no idea how to console poor bobo because he had just gotten over an entire week of menopause.(laughter)see what we're finding is it's not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality. and if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time.when i applied to harvard, i applied on a dare. i didn't expect to get in, and my family had no money for college. when i got a military scholarship two weeks later, they allowed me to go. suddenly, something that wasn't even a possibility became a reality. when i went there, i assumed everyone else would see it as a privilege as well, that they'd be excited to be there. even if you're in a classroom full of people smarter than you, you'd be happy just to be in that classroom, which is what i felt. but what i found there is, while some people experience that, when i graduated after my four years and then spent the next eight years living in the dorms with the students -- harvard asked me to; i wasn't that guy. (laughter) i was an officer of harvard to counsel students through the difficult four years. and what i found in my research and my teaching is that these students, no matter how happy they were with their original success of getting into the school, two weeks later their brains were focused, not on the privilege of being there, nor ontheir philosophy or their physics. their brain was focused on the competition, the workload, the hassles, the stresses, the complaints.when i first went in there, i walked into the freshmen dining hall, which is where my friends from waco, texas, which is where i grew up -- i know some of you have heard of it. when they'd come to visit me, they'd look around, they'd say, "this freshman dining hall looks like something out of hogwart's from the movie "harry potter," which it does. this is hogwart's from the movie "harry potter" and that's harvard. and when they see this, they say, "shawn, why do you waste your time studying happiness at harvard? seriously, what does a harvard student possibly have to be unhappy about?"embedded within that question is the key to understanding the science of happiness. because what that question assumes is that our external world is predictive of our happiness levels, when in reality, if i know everything about your external world, i can only predict 10 percent of your long-term happiness. 90 percent of your long-term happiness is predicted not by the external world, but by the way your brain processes the world. and if we change it, if we change our formula for happiness and success, what we can do is change the way that we can then affect reality. what we found is that only 25 percent of job successes are predicted by i.q. 75 percent of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.i talked to a boarding school up in new england, probably the most prestigious boarding school, and they said, "we already know that. so every year, instead of just teaching our students, we also have a wellness week. and we're so excited. monday night we have the world's leading expert coming in to speak aboutadolescent depression. tuesday night it's school violence and bullying. wednesday night is eating disorders. thursday night is elicit drug use. and friday night we're trying to decide between risky sex or happiness." (laughter) i said,"that's most people's friday nights." (laughter) (applause) which i'm glad you liked, but they did not like that at all. silence on the phone. and into the silence, i said, "i'd be happy to speak at your school, but just so you know,that's not a wellness week, that's a sickness week. what you've done is you've outlined all the negative things that can happen, but not talked about the positive."the absence of disease is not health. here's how we get to health: we need to reverse the formula for happiness and success. in the last three years, i've traveled to 45 different countries, working with schools and companies in the midst of an economic downturn. and what i found is that most companies and schools follow a formula for success, which is this: if i work harder, i'll be more successful. and if i'm more successful, then i'll be happier. that undergirds most of our parenting styles, our managing styles, the way that we motivate our behavior.and the problem is it's scientifically broken and backwards for two reasons. first, every time your brain has a success, you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like. you got good grades, now you have to get better grades, you got into a good school and after you get into a better school, you got a good job, now you have to get a better job, you hit your sales target, we're going to change your sales target. and if happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. what we've done is we've pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon as a society. and that's because we think we have to besuccessful, then we'll be happier.but the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order. if you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. in fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves. your brain at positive is 31 percent more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed. you're 37 percent better at sales. doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed. which means we can reverse the formula. if we can find a way of becoming positive in the present, then our brains work even more successfully as we're able to work harder, faster and more intelligently.what we need to be able to do is to reverse this formula so we can start to see what our brains are actually capable of. because dopamine, which floods into your system when you're positive, has two functions. not only does it make you happier, it turns on all of the learning centers in your brain allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.we've found that there are ways that you can train your brain to be able to become more positive. in just a two-minute span of time done for 21 days in a row, we can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully. we've done these things in research now in every single company that i've worked with, getting them to write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three new thingseach day. and at the end of that, their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world, not for the negative, but for the positive first.journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it. exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters. we find that meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural adhd that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand. and finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness. we get people, when they open up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their social support network.and by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but create a real revolution.thank you very much.(applause)TED英语演讲稿：你能控制他人的注意力吗？TED英语演讲稿：如何逃出教育的“死亡谷”TED英语演讲稿：如何让选择更容易TED英语演讲稿：科技如何帮我阅读Ted英语演讲稿:Be an Opportunity Maker机会创造者TED英语演讲稿：四种影响我们的声音方式TED英语演讲稿：我们为什么快乐？Ted英语演讲稿：How I held my breath for 17 minutes如何憋气17 TED英语演讲稿: 如何在社交网络溅起水花TED英语演讲稿：坠机让我学到的三件事。

When I was seven years old and my sister was just five years old, we were playing on top of a bunk bed. I was two years older than my sister at the time -- I mean, I'm two years older than her now -- but at the time it meant she had to do everything that I wanted to do, and I wanted to play war. So we were up on top of our bunk beds. And on one side of the bunk bed, I had put out all of my G.I. Joe soldiers and weaponry. And on the other side were all my sister's My Little Ponies ready for a cavalry charge.There are differing accounts of what actually happened that afternoon, but since my sister is not here with us today, let me tell you the true story -- (Laughter) -- which is my sister's a little bit on the clumsy side. Somehow, without any help or push from her older brother at all, suddenly Amy disappeared off of the top of the bunk bed and landed with this crash on the floor. Now I nervously peered over the side of the bed to see what had befallen my fallen sister and saw that she had landed painfully on her hands and knees on all fours on the ground.I was nervous because my parents had charged me with making sure that my sister and I played as safely and as quietly as possible. And seeing as how I had accidentally broken Amy's arm just one week before ... (Laughter) ... heroically pushing her out of the way of an oncoming imaginary sniper bullet, (Laughter) for which I have yet to be thanked, I was trying as hard as I could -- she didn't even see it coming -- I was trying as hard as I could to be on my best behavior.And I saw my sister's face, this wail of pain and suffering and surprise threatening to erupt from her mouth and threatening to wake my parents from the long winter's nap for which they had settled. So I did the only thing my little frantic seven year-old brain could think to do to avert this tragedy. And if you have children, you've seen this hundreds of times before. I said, "Amy, Amy, wait. Don't cry. Don't cry. Did you see how you landed? No human lands on all fours like that. Amy, I think this means you're a unicorn."(Laughter)Now that was cheating, because there was nothing in the world my sister would want more than not to be Amy the hurt five year-old little sister, but Amy the special unicorn. Of course, this was an option that was open to her brain at no point in the past. And you could see how my poor, manipulated sister faced conflict, as her little brain attempted to devote resources to feeling the pain and suffering and surprise she just experienced, or contemplating her new-found identity as a unicorn. And the latter won out. Instead of crying, instead of ceasing our play, instead of waking my parents, with all the negative consequences that would have ensued for me, instead a smile spread across her face and she scrambled right back up onto the bunk bed with all the grace of a baby unicorn ... (Laughter) ... with one broken leg.What we stumbled across at this tender age of just five and seven -- we had no idea at the time -- was something that was going be at the vanguard of a scientific revolution occurring two decades later in the way that we look at the human brain. What we had stumbled across is something called positive psychology, which is the reason that I'm here today and the reason that I wake up every morning.When I first started talking about this research outside of academia, out with companies and schools, the very first thing they said to never do is to start your talk with a graph. The very first thing I want to do is start my talk with a graph. This graph looks boring, but this graph is the reason I get excited and wake up every morning. And this graph doesn't even mean anything; it's fake data. What we found is --(Laughter)If I got this data back studying you here in the room, I would be thrilled, because there's very clearly a trend that's going on there, and that means that I can get published, which is all that really matters. The fact that there's one weird red dot that's up above the curve, there's one weirdo in the room -- I know who you are, I saw you earlier -- that's no problem. That's no problem, as most of you know, because I can just delete that dot. I can delete that dot because that's clearly a measurement error. And we know that's a measurement error because it's messing up my data.So one of the very first things we teach people in economics and statistics and business and psychology courses is how, in a statistically valid way, do we eliminate the weirdos. How do we eliminate the outliers so we can find the line of best fit? Which is fantastic if I'm trying to find out how many Advil the average person should be taking -- two. But if I'm interested in potential, if I'm interested in your potential, or for happiness or productivity or energy or creativity, what we're doing is we're creating the cult of the average with science.If I asked a question like, "How fast can a child learn how to read in a classroom?" scientists change the answer to "How fast does the average child learn how to read in that classroom?" and then we tailor the class right towards the average. Now if you fall below the average on this curve, then psychologists get thrilled, because that means you're either depressed or you have a disorder, or hopefully both. We're hoping for both because our business model is, if you come into a therapy session with one problem, we want to make sure you leave knowing you have 10, so you keep coming back over and over again. We'll go back into your childhood if necessary, but eventually what we want to do is make you normal again. But normal is merely average.And what I posit and what positive psychology posits is that if we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average. Then instead of deleting those positive outliers, what I intentionally do is come into a population like this one and say, why? Why is it that some of you are so high above the curve in terms of your intellectual ability, athletic ability, musical ability, creativity, energy levels, your resiliency in the face of challenge, your sense of humor? Whatever it is, instead of deleting you, what I want to do is study you. Because maybe we can glean information -- not just how to move people up to the average, but how we can move the entire average up in our companies and schools worldwide.The reason this graph is important to me is, when I turn on the news, it seems like the majority of the information is not positive, in fact it's negative. Most of it's about murder, corruption, diseases, natural disasters. And very quickly, my brain starts to think that's the accurate ratio of negative to positive in the world. What that's doing is creating something called the medical school syndrome -- which, if you know people who've been to medical school, during the first year of medical training, as you read through a list of all the symptoms and diseases that could happen, suddenly you realize you have all of them.I have a brother in-law named Bobo -- which is a whole other story. Bobo married Amy the unicorn. Bobo called me on the phone from Yale Medical School, and Bobo said, "Shawn, I have leprosy." (Laughter) Which, even at Yale, is extraordinarily rare. But I had no idea how to console poor Bobo because he had just gotten over an entire week of menopause.(Laughter)See what we're finding is it's not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality. And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we can change everysingle educational and business outcome at the same time.When I applied to Harvard, I applied on a dare.I didn't expect to get in, and my family had no money for college. When I got a military scholarship two weeks later, they allowed me to go. Suddenly, something that wasn't even a possibility became a reality. When I went there, I assumed everyone else would see it as a privilege as well, that they'd be excited to be there. Even if you're in a classroom full of people smarter than you, you'd be happy just to be in that classroom, which is what I felt. But what I found there is, while some people experience that, when I graduated after my four years and then spent the next eight years living in the dorms with the students -- Harvard asked me to; I wasn't that guy. (Laughter) I was an officer of Harvard to counsel students through the difficult four years. And what I found in my research and my teaching is that these students, no matter how happy they were with their original success of getting into the school, two weeks later their brains were focused, not on the privilege of being there, nor on their philosophy or their physics. Their brain was focused on the competition, the workload, the hassles, the stresses, the complaints.When I first went in there, I walked into the freshmen dining hall, which is where my friends from Waco, Texas, which is where I grew up -- I know some of you have heard of it. When they'd come to visit me, they'd look around, they'd say, "This freshman dining hall looks like something out of Hogwart's from the movie "Harry Potter," which it does. This is Hogwart's from the movie "Harry Potter" and that's Harvard. And when they see this, they say, "Shawn, why do you waste your time studying happiness at Harvard? Seriously, what does a Harvard student possibly have to be unhappy about?"Embedded within that question is the key to understanding the science of happiness. Because what that question assumes is that our external world is predictive of our happiness levels, when in reality, if I know everything about your external world, I can only predict 10 percent of your long-term happiness. 90 percent of your long-term happiness is predicted not by the external world, but by the way your brain processes the world. And if we change it, if we change our formula for happiness and success, what we can do is change the way that we can then affect reality. What we found is that only 25 percent of job successes are predicted by I.Q.75 percent of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.I talked to a boarding school up in New England, probably the most prestigious boarding school, and they said, "We already know that. So every year, instead of just teaching our students, we also have a wellness week. And we're so excited. Monday night we have the world's leading expert coming in to speak about adolescent depression. Tuesday night it's school violence and bullying. Wednesday night is eating disorders. Thursday night is elicit drug use. And Friday night we're trying to decide between risky sex or happiness." (Laughter) I said, "That's most people's Friday nights." (Laughter) (Applause) Which I'm glad you liked, but they did not like that at all. Silence on the phone. And into the silence, I said, "I'd be happy to speak at your school, but just so you know, that's not a wellness week, that's a sickness week. What you've done is you've outlined all the negative things that can happen, but not talked about the positive."The absence of disease is not health. Here's how we get to health: We need to reverse the formula for happiness and success. In the last three years, I've traveled to 45 different countries, working with schools and companies in the midst of an economic downturn. And what I found is that most companies and schools follow a formula for success, which is this: If I work harder, I'll be more successful. And if I'm moresuccessful, then I'll be happier. That undergirds most of our parenting styles, our managing styles, the way that we motivate our behavior.And the problem is it's scientifically broken and backwards for two reasons. First, every time your brain has a success, you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like. You got good grades, now you have to get better grades, you got into a good school and after you get into a better school, you got a good job, now you have to get a better job, you hit your sales target, we're going to change your sales target. And if happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. What we've done is we've pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon as a society. And that's because we think we have to be successful, then we'll be happier.But the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves. Your brain at positive is 31 percent more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed. You're 37 percent better at sales. Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed. Which means we can reverse the formula. If we can find a way of becoming positive in the present, then our brains work even more successfully as we're able to work harder, faster and more intelligently.What we need to be able to do is to reverse this formula so we can start to see what our brains are actually capable of. Because dopamine, which floods into your system when you're positive, has two functions. Not only does it make you happier, it turns on all of the learning centers in your brain allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.We've found that there are ways that you can train your brain to be able to become more positive. In just a two-minute span of time done for 21 days in a row, we can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully. We've done these things in research now in every single company that I've worked with, getting them to write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three new things each day. And at the end of that, their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world, not for the negative, but for the positive first.Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it. Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters. We find that meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand. And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness. We get people, when they open up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their social support network.And by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but create a real revolution.Thank you very much.(Applause)。