Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Dear CEO, What is your happiness / wellness strategy in 2015?


Dear CEO, 

As you know, your organizational values are of the utmost importance to guide the effort of the workforce who forwards your cause day in and day out.

These values are in fact the glue that keep your team bonded and your organization run effectively.

They are the guiding principles and target of each thought and behavior of your employees.

POP QUIZ

Do you know the values of your organization?

Do you stumble on the words or  have to look it up on the corporate website?

How much do you really care, adhere, teach, mentor and embody those values?



This is a place of improvement for a lot of CEOs.

Bringing it back to the basics.

Over the course of almost 20 years, I have worked with many CEOs and organizations to help embody the values of the organization.

POP QUIZ

How many of them had happiness or positivity as a value?

Rare.



Until now, more and more CEOs are valuing their own happiness and health and those of their workforce more than ever before!

Unfortunately it is because all of you have seen to much stress, strokes, depression disability from the people you see day in and day out working for your cause.

With the new corporate wellness laws, corporations and CEOs are more than ever espousing values of health, happiness, and give the message ‘I care about you.’

POP QUIZ

What are you doing in 2015 to show your employees you care about them?

What are you doing to teach the values for sustainability & performance in your organization?

If you so choose happiness, positivity, health, well being, or anything of the sort as at least one of the values of your company, I can provide 5 tips to begin the dynamic spread of happiness in your company.


  1. Teach everyone they are in charge of their own happiness (wellness, positivity, etc) – personal responsibility is key
  2. Embody a positive attitude & encourage daily positive mood boosting activities
  3. Embody & teach practical tools for resiliency
  4. Encourage your workforce to be true to themselves, develop a deeper meaning & purpose through their work while utilizing their natural strengths
  5. Encourage & embody a spiritual practice – meditation, church going, religious holiday celebration, visits to nature, whatever ‘spiritual’ means to you

Before wellness technology and positive psychology, there are statistics that show your wellness program ROI will take 3-5 years to pay off.  Here is a great 2010 Harvard Business Review article on the ROI of major corporations from their wellness initiatives. 

With wellness technology & advances in positive psychology you can see progress within weeks and months with real time data. The times have changed!



You can influence and enhance the well being in your company simply by teaching happiness science to your employees.

These 5 tips will spread the positivity in your organization up to 3 degrees as shown by Harvard Research.

POP QUIZ

What is your depression disability cost annually? 

On average, American companies pay 4 Billion dollars a year in this category!

Would you like to see this number disappear?
Would you like to see smiles instead of stress in your office?

This is a special time in history where your organization can offer happiness at work in a proactive, productive and profitable way. 

Is it time to “spread happiness aggressively” in 2015 in your organization?  That is an actual quote from one CEO who has experienced a 50% growth rate in 2014.

He is able to track his numbers in happiness amongst his employees for the first time and now he wants to see them grow.

What is your happiness / wellness strategy in 2015?

If you want a taste of this dynamic spread of happiness, here is a 9 minute video.



Dr Aymee Coget
Sustainable Happiness Doctor
Author of Forthcoming Book : Sustainable Happiness in 5 Steps
sfhappinessdoctor at gmail dot com



Friday, December 12, 2014

Happy Idiot Syndrome : Defacing the Myth



TOP QUESTION: If you are happy does that mean you are out of touch with reality? 
i.e. Are you a happy idiot?

EXPERT ANSWER: Harvard, Stanford, and University of California all teach happiness science.        <wait for audience response>

SARCASTIC RESPONSE: Are America’s top universities teaching Idiots?! I think not!

                                                                                                                                                                   

As I champion the message of sustainable happiness day in and day out to all walks of life from housewives to state Judges, I quite commonly get asked about the “Happy Idiot” Syndrome.

Generational, Societal, Cultural, Scientific, and Spiritual messages are wrapped up in the human experience of happiness.

The message of the happy idiot syndrome must change just as much as the message of the ‘pursuit’ of happiness. Respectively the inaccurate messages are "you are dumb if you are happy" and "you can achieve sustainable happiness outside of yourself."

What does it really mean to be a happy idiot?

A happy idiot connotes, a person who is out of touch with reality and is ignorant of all the terrible things happening in the world.

Surely, if the happy idiot knew about the war, homelessness, slavery, disaster, and the list is endless, they would not be happy!

This common way of thinking must change.

It must become updated to the current view of happiness science where one actually has control of your emotional state and you learn how to be happy just like any other topic in your life.

Let’s take a bird’s eye view….

You want world peace right?

Arguably, most people on Earth would agree they would desire peace on Earth.

If this was so, people would be laughing and smiling. 

People would be happy and healthy. 

This begins with you.

You making the happiness decision

To be happy right now.

In the first step of sustainable happiness, you become empowered over your own happiness.

This means you actually sign a declaration written by Lionel Ketchian, Founder of The Happiness Clubs Worldwide.

I ____ <insert your name>

Do solemnly decide
to adopt the happiness decision
By being happy now

Rather than react to my problems
I will use happiness to respond to them
Forsaking all negative thoughts

Regardless of circumstances,
I all ways I will choose happiness
For the rest of my life.

This seems easy to do yet let me highlight the two main challenges where the work comes in:

Forsaking all negative thoughts
And
Responding to circumstances with happiness

Those two intentions are what will help to create peace on Earth.

When you are positive thinking, your brain is expanding and working at an optimal state. Here is an excerpt from an informative and practical report conducted by the Mayo Clinic:

The health benefits of positive thinking

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:
  • Increased life span
  • Lower rates of depression
  • Lower levels of distress
  • Greater resistance to the common cold
  • Better psychological and physical well-being
  • Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
  • Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress



And when you are responding to circumstances with happiness, you are solution focused with a bent toward high emotional intelligence, thus tackling the challenge with a flourishing mind and solution focused mindset.

By all means, I am not encouraging you to stick your head in the sand and ignore the world’s suffering.

I am encouraging you to take charge of your own happiness instead of waiting for the world’s suffering to end because then you can become part of the solution with a clear working mindset and the ability to creatively problem solve to help in stopping the daily devastations.

Let’s move from the myth of the happy idiot to the truth of the creative change makers.

My thinking on happiness is influenced by people who have PhDs, MDs, ancient philosophers, spiritual gurus, a Nobel Peace nominee, and empirically based data. 

Different than a ‘Happy Idiot.”


Dr Aymee Coget
Sustainable Happiness Doctor
Author of Forthcoming Book : Sustainable Happiness in 5 Steps
sfhappinessdoctor at gmail dot com