Vital Keys to Your Success
Vital Keys to Your Success
As with any goal, you must put dedicated effort and commitment into achieving greater happiness.
1. Resolve to undertake a program to become happier
2. Learn what you need to do
3. Put weekly or even daily effort into it
4. Commit to the goal for a long period of time, possibly the rest of your
You’ve already prioritized your own happiness by choosing to read this article and by the time you are done with it you will have completed the second step shown above, learning what you need to do.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of Psychology at the University of California, states in her book, “The How of Happiness” that the secret ingredient to your success is motivation. Her research shows that those study participants who found happiness enhancing activities motivating and rewarding were most likely to practice it and therefore benefit from it long-term. She says:
“The more motivated you are to do something, the more likely
you’ll invest effort in it!”
It is up to you whether you choose to continue. Steps three and four are UP TO YOU. Are you willing to put weekly or daily effort into decreasing your negativity and increasing your positivity? Are you willing to commit to it for the rest of your life?
How serious are you about your happiness?
Barbara Fredrickson reports that a ratio of three positive thoughts to one negative thought is the tipping point to move your life from languishing to flourishing. She describes ‘flourishing’ as going beyond happiness, or satisfaction with life.
“People who flourish are highly engaged with their families, work and communities. They’re driven by a sense of purpose: they know why they get up in the morning. Striving to flourish, then, is a noble goal. It’s not just about making yourself happy. It’s about doing something valuable with your day and your life.”
There are two ways to change your happiness ratio. One is to decrease negativity, as with the FLIP IT! process and the second is to increase positivity, as with the strategies outlined under Promote the Positive (the “P” in the FLIP IT! process). Working both simultaneously seems the surest way to a joyful life. As with any goal, you must put dedicated effort and commitment into achieving greater happiness.
Flipping has led me on a path to a flourishing life…it just gets better and better. Imagine a world full of people who were driven by a sense of purpose, were highly engaged and happy. Flipping is a simple technique that can move us steadily and surely towards that tipping point.