75% of Success is Being Positive

In a recent interview with Success magazine publisher Darren Hardy, Harvard professor and author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, breaks down success into 25% academic learning and 75% positivity.

The 75% breaks down into 3 categories:

1. Belief that your behaviors matter - What you are doing will make a difference.

2. Positive social support network - The law of association. Surround yourself with positive people.

3. View stress as a challenge not a threat - A positive attitude towards stress will activate your brain to get past it and find intellectual resources to make it happen.

Positive Leadership Produces Greater Results

1. Recruit positive people - College level coaches can do this. High School coaches can select the positive players and cut the negative players.

2. Be positive yourself - Easier said than done. We are most often our own worst critics. Stop the "stinking thinking".

3. Recognize others for their achievements - Achor recommends starting the day with recognizing someone for something positive they've done. I am going to make it a point to start each practice this way; give someone, or all, a positive from the day before.

4. Prioritize happiness in the present - Happiness is not a "When I get to [blank], I will be happy." You either ARE or you're NOT. Invest in your social network in times of stress.

5. Praise the process - This will increase the team's success. Don't praise the outcome as long-term success will decrease.