The philosophy of happiness by Tal Ben Shahar

Tal Ben-Shahar is an author, lecturer, a serial entrepreneur, and is the co-founder and the Chief Learning Officer of The Wholebeing Institute, Potentialife, Maytiv, and Happier.TV. He obtained his PhD in Organizational Behavior and BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Harvard and has taught two of the largest classes in Harvard University’s history, Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. Today, Tal consults and lectures around the world to executives in multi-national corporations, the general public, and at-risk populations on topics of leadership, happiness, education, innovation, ethics, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness.

Tal’s focus is on enhancing wellbeing, his approach is interdisciplinary and draws on psychology, organizational behavior, education, and philosophy. In this exclusive conversation with People Matters, Tal shares his perspectives on the imperative for organizations to use psychology or interdisciplinary approaches to create workplace solutions.

Most people believe that success will lead to wellbeing.  Their mental model is:

Success (cause) ---> Happiness (effect)

But most people have it wrong. We know from a great deal of research that success, at best, leads to a spike in one's happiness levels, but the spike is temporary, short-lived. But while success does not lead to wellbeing, the opposite is the case:

Success (effect) ---> Happiness (cause)

This is a very important finding, turning the cause-and-effect relationship around and correcting the misperception that so many people have.  The reason for the above is that when we experience positive emotions we are more creative and motivated, form better relationships, and are physically healthier. Organizations should invest in their employees' happiness as an end in itself, and also as a means toward higher profits.  Happiness pays!

A positive outlook leads to higher levels of creativity. Managers with a positive disposition tend to think outside the box, and come up with creative solutions.  In today's competitive marketplace, creativity is no longer a luxury for leaders. It's an absolute necessity. Motivation is also higher when we're positive. To sustain the level of commitment, hard work, and intensity necessary to succeed as a leader, we need positivity to push us along. Finally, we form better relationships when we have a positive outlook on life.  The foundation of success for most leaders is the quality of their relationships, the strength of the commitment from their employees.

Help their employees identify and exercise their strengths.  People who know and use their strengths are happier, more motivated, and more successful in the workplace. Provide what Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson calls ‘Psychological Safety’, which is the confidence that no member of the team would be embarrassed or punished if she spoke out, asked for assistance, or failed in a specific task. When team leaders create a climate of psychological safety, when members feel comfortable “failing” and then sharing and discussing their mistakes, all members of the team can learn and improve. In contrast, when mistakes are concealed, learning is less likely to take place, and the likelihood that errors will be repeated is higher.

Encourage employees to exercise regularly. Regular physical exercise — as little as three weekly sessions of thirty minutes each — has the same effect as our most powerful psychiatric medication. The workplace will be a happier place, a more creative place, and a less stressful place if the employees started a physical exercise regime. Encourage employees to take regular breaks during the day, and then have time to recover when they're at home. Being "on" all the time is not helpful for the individual employee, nor for the organization. More is not necessarily better.  We need to recharge our psychological batteries.

When I think about happiness, I think about it in five dimensions — Spiritual wellbeing: Having a sense of purpose, being present in what we are doing; Physical wellbeing: Physical health means exercising on a regular basis, eating healthy, touch and so forth; Intellectual wellbeing: Exercising the mind because this is what differentiates us from other animals and we reflect and analyze using the mind; Relational or interpersonal wellbeing: The number one predictor of happiness i.e. quality time we spend with people; and Emotional wellbeing — the sum of these is happiness.

Life is tough. And the first step is to accept that there is suffering. People come to me and say, “You are a happiness doctor, you must be happy all the time.” Of course not, I have my ups and downs like everyone else; but the first thing to accept is the fact that suffering, pain, disappointment, sadness is all part of life. The question then is: What do we do with this? And the things we can do is, firstly, engage in regular physical exercise, meditation and spend quality time with people we care about and who care about us. This can really make us happy especially through difficult times. 

As professionals, we play a very significant role in impacting and influencing the environment around us and one of the things that keeps us going, energizes us and provides us with happiness is a sense of meaning and purpose. So, how can you connect your employees to purpose? One of the things that we do as part of Potentialife is we go into an organization and ask people to write; not their job descriptions, but descriptions about their ‘calling’ or their ‘purpose’. In other words, we ask them what is it that they do day in and day out that means a lot to them, and which is important and significant to them. When you identify that in your day-to-day work, your mindset changes immediately. You become more motivated, you become a better worker and of course, you become happier. So connect to purpose. But it’s not just about connecting to purpose; it’s about connecting to the things that are positive in your workplace. 

The first thing to recognize is that happiness pays. In other words, it’s a good investment. It’s better for a manager if he or she learns how to be more focused i.e. if he or she learns how to take more time out. That’s what they need to do, managers need more recovery. The reason why there is so much pressure in the workplace today is because people don’t take time for recovery. Why they don’t take time to recover is because they think it is a waste of time. They think “I’m so busy and you are coming to tell me to take time off?” 

The reality is that taking some time off is an investment. An investment is nothing but losing something for the purpose of gaining something more in return. For example, when you invest money, you lose the money for a while but you get more in return after a few years. It’s the same with taking time off. When you invest your time; you are giving it up for the purpose of getting more in return. Secondly, at least one to two hours a day, single-task rather than multi-task — it is single-tasking that can contribute not only to the activity you are doing now, but it can contribute to your entire day. 

It is very important to breathe deeply and to return to the present. Because when you are in the present, no matter what happens, you’re not stressed. Think about it. Remember the stories where we’re in grave danger and suddenly everything slows down. Suddenly, you are not stressed, you’re completely focused. Afterwards you begin to shake or even cry, but when the stressful event is happening, you are not stressed. For example, imagine a lion coming towards you; you are completely focused on what you need to do then to survive. There is no stress because your whole system is present. Imagine if you can bring this sense of presence on a regular basis day in and day out. It’s very simple to do it — by simply telling yourself to return to the present. The more we return to the present, the better we are able to deal with difficult, stressful situations. 

(The text of the feature has been compiled from interactions with Tal Ben Shahar during People Matters TechHR Conference 2017)