The Happiness Project

Someone from our engineering team shared Shawn Anchor: The secret to better work on Slack today. It spurred a lot of positive discussion in the channel. I haven’t watched the video yet, but I read Shawn’s booked titled “The Happiness Project”.

To this day, I don’t believe there is one single book that has had a more impact on my life. I thank Shawn for a lot of my success and helping me realize my potential.

The theory behind the book is really simple. Doing good work does not make you happy, but rather being happy allows you to produce good work.

It’s simple but really changed the way I thought about life. I was 24 when I first read the book and working 80 hour weeks thinking that if I just worked a bit harder and move up the chain, I’d be happy. In truth, life and happiness doesn’t work that way. Since then, I’ve prioritized my happiness and wellbeing first and foremost and my work product has greatly improved.

I highly recommend everyone read his book or at least watch the Ted Talk above. Hopefully it has an impact on your life as it did for me.