Perrysburg Pulse Magazine Perrysburg Pulse October | Page 17

Studies indicate that an intense positive
experience leads us to frame ordinary
experiences as less positive. Once you’ve
landed a gold medal or won the lottery,
it’s hard to take pleasure in finding a
great parking spot or winning a video
game. Tom was looking so hard for the
perfect job and the ideal country that he
failed to appreciate an interesting task
and a great restaurant.
Today, for the first time in more than a
decade, Tom reports being—and appears
to be—happy. Instead of pursuing
happiness alone, he fell in love and
got married. Rather than evaluating
his happiness daily and hunting for
his dream job, he’s finding flow and
experiencing daily satisfaction in helping
his wife set up a company. He’s no longer
bouncing around from one continent
to another, following the advice of
psychologists Ken Sheldon and Sonja
Lyubomirsky: “Change your actions, not
your circumstances.”
In Obliquity, John Kay argues that the
best things in life can only be pursued
indirectly. I believe this is true for
happiness: if you truly want to experience
joy or meaning, you need to shift your
attention away from joy or meaning, and
toward projects and relationships that
bring joy and meaning as byproducts.
AS THE GREAT
PHILOSOPHER JOHN
STUART MILL ONCE
WROTE, “THOSE
ONLY ARE HAPPY
WHO HAVE THEIR
MINDS FIXED ON
SOME OBJECT OTHER
THAN THEIR OWN
HAPPINESS.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for
six straight years. He is a leading expert on how we can find
motivation and meaning and live more generous and creative
lives. He has been recognized as one of the world's 10 most
influential management thinkers and Fortune's 40 under 40.
He is the author of three New York Times bestselling books that have
sold over a million copies and been translated into 35 languages. Give
and Take examines why helping others drives our success and was
named one of the best books of 2013 by Amazon, Apple, the Financial
Times, and The Wall Street Journal—as well as one of Oprah's riveting
reads and Harvard Business Review’s ideas that shaped management.
Originals explores how individuals champion new ideas and leaders fight
groupthink; it was a NO.1 bestseller praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard
Branson, and Malcolm Gladwell. Option B, with Sheryl Sandberg,
is a NO. 1 bestseller on facing adversity and building resilience.
AdamGrant.net
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