How to increase happiness and productivity in 1 minute a day
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
I’ll make this brief as it’s a holiday week!
In the spirit of Thanksgiving (and I know, I know, the reality of the history of Thanksgiving is nothing like the meaning we ascribe to it… but that’s a whole other post on a much more serious topic), I was thinking about gratitude. We know that gratitude increases happiness, and since we know that happy people are more productive, I had a hunch that regularly practicing gratitude might increase productivity.
I started doing a bit of research and it turns out I’m not the only one who’s been thinking about this. Real live researchers have. And, I was right! ; Gratitude can increase productivity.
Do you want to be happier and more productive, both at work and at home? Here are a few quick, low effort strategies to get you started practicing gratitude on a regular basis:
Start a gratitude journal (or list, or doc)
Each day write down just one thing you are grateful for. This takes all of 30 seconds per day, so just do it. Keep a note in your phone, or put a blank book next to your bed.
Practice “three good things”
By yourself, or with your partner, or your kids, at the end of the night list 3 good things that happened to you, or that you did, today. They don’t have to be big, and in fact can be quite small. Sometimes, we’ve had a really crappy day, but it helps to remember that our lunch was particularly tasty.
When you start work each day, think of one reason why you are grateful for your job
Maybe it’s the people you work with, the interesting projects you get work on, or maybe it’s just simply the paycheck it provides. But you’re still in your job, so remind yourself of why!
I’ll start:
My 3 good things for today:
I get to share my thoughts on how to live a more productive, less stressful life with you all.
Vaccines!
I’m taking off the full week of Thanksgiving (and have scheduled this post to publish while I’m off).