Quotes from Shawn Achor

Constantly scanning the world for the negative comes with a great cost. It undercuts our creativity, raises our stress levels, and lowers our motivation and ability to accomplish goals.

Our daily decisions and habits have a huge impact upon both our levels of happiness and success.

We become more successful when we are happier and more positive.

..the more you believe in your own ability to success the more likely it is that you will.

Happiness is the precursor to success.

Positivity is such a high predicator of success rates.

If you've ever tried to start up the habit of early-morning exercise, you have probably encountered how easy it is to get derailed by too much choice.

I once stayed at a Ritz in D.C., paid for by a client, and when I asked to change rooms because mine smelled of smoke, the hotel immediately found me a better room, then paid for my dinner and drinks and even threw in a free massage to compensate me for the very minor inconvenience.

Research shows you get multiple tasks done faster if you do them one at a time. It also decreases stress and raises happiness.

We know that recognition and intrinsic motivation are important to our success, but the key is finding ways to effectively operationalize them.

The research says that being successful doesn't automatically make you happier, but being happier - being more positive - makes you more successful.

I'd love it if every company could give raises to the average worker for doing good work.

Too many people limit their happiness and success by assuming that taking time off from work will send a negative message to their manager and slow their career advancement.

[It's] 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.

If we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average.

Joy makes us want to invest more deeply in the people around us. It makes us want to learn more about our communities. It makes us want to be able to find ways of being able to make this a better external world for all of us.

Traveling the world can be an amazing - and even better - a happy experience. You just have to do it the right way.

You've probably noticed how when someone says hello or smiles at you, your automatic reaction is to say hello or smile back.

Turnover can be one of the most expensive problems at a company.

We sometimes think that the best doctors are the ones who have the most specialized knowledge or the fanciest degrees, but in fact, study upon study, including one published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine,' show that the best doctors are the ones who also know how to connect with their patients.

You have to train your brain to be positive just like you work out your body.

We not only need to work happy, we need to work at being happy.

Most people keep waiting on happiness, putting off happiness until they're successful or until they achieve some goal, which means we limit both happiness and success. That formula doesn't work.

For me, meditation's hard because I feel like I have developed 'cultural attention-deficit disorder,' where, because we have so much stimulation, I feel like I have trouble focusing on things for very long. So when I try to meditate, my brain gets so scattered.