How to be Happy
Every day you make – or fail to make – decisions that could have a lasting impact on your happiness. By reading this book, you give yourself the best possible chance of making decisions that help you, and your family, to achieve maximum sustainable happiness – happiness not just in the present but throughout your life. The Happiness Checklist will help you to make the most of every situation.
There are challenges, though: globalisation, off-shoring, climate change, terrorism, spiralling debt, credit crises, the loss of jobs to robots and computers …; a lot is going on, and it isn’t happening with a view to making you happy. Positive thinking and optimism are not enough. The Happiness Checklist will help to reflect, plan and take action to give yourself the best possible chance of happiness.
But, of course, happiness does not only depend on your situation. What happens inside your head is as, if not more, important than your circumstances. In The Happiness Checklist, you will learn how to manage your emotional drivers so that you build a solid foundation of contentment, your happiness baseline. You will also discover how to take control of the automatic, unconscious processes in your brain that can distort your thinking.
A Practical Approach
The Happiness Checklist will help you to:
find the kind of work that inspires you
take control and escape from the ‘rules’ that threaten your happiness
cope with the enormous changes that are transforming our lives
find purpose and live according to your values
overcome the hard-wired cognitive biases that can lead to bad decisions
raise your happiness baseline – the starting point for your happiness in any situation
exert greater control over emotions and transform negative energy into positive action
become a realistic optimist so that you make the most of every situation
develop new skills and enjoy the feeling of mastery
achieve security and escape from the prison of materialistic thinking
strike the optimum balance between short-term pleasure and long-term contentment
help others – happy people spread happiness!
A Realistic and Personal Approach
There are plenty of books in the self-help genre promising everlasting happiness; all you have to do is think positively and follow a few simple steps. Unfortunately, these quick-fix, off-the-shelf, instant solutions rarely work. Achieving real sustainable happiness requires analysis, reflection and effort. How could it be otherwise? Your personality, emotional triggers, interests, values, desires, thought processes and skills are unique. As is your context: wealth, family, social connections, career and qualifications. You have to discover your own personal route to happiness.
The Happiness Checklist can help you to do this
Robust and Concise
The principles of The Happiness Checklist are derived from the latest findings from neuroscience and psychology, complemented by the wisdom of some of the great philosophers. They have been honed and refined in the real-world through my work as a coach with capable and challenging individuals from over 30 countries. There is no padding with anecdotes or extended descriptions of research studies (references are provided). This is the distilled essence of my research and experience regarding what it takes to achieve maximum sustainable happiness.
Bonus
In the book, you will gain access to resources on our website, including our planning template to help you to convert your insights into action. If you decide not to buy, you can still read articles on our website (see author profile)
