You are here to learn more about the definitive ways to deliver happiness to you, your employees, and customers. Well, here we go…

I know you know this.

I am confident you have read a list like this before:

1. Smile – Your brain doesn’t know you are faking it, so it releases chemicals which make you feel good.
2. Sleep More – Getting at least 7-8 hours of restful sleep. This message is everywhere as most people don’t get enough
3. Exercise – Even little amounts of exercise offer relief from stress and anxiety which leads to happiness
4. Eat right – Getting the right healthy nutrients for your body does wonders for seeing the world differently
5. Be Grateful – Practicing gratitude can provide hope and happiness
6. … and on and on

You can find more about the list here: https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-be-happy You will discover a list of 25 things you can do to be happier.

The list is good, and I am confident you may also be able to add to it with your own experiences.

BUT wait: why don’t we do it?

We may take swings at things on the list and maybe even do some on a regular basis. But why won’t we do them consistently and more frequently. Why don’t we follow the road to more happiness?

Well, it is a bumpy road to happiness, and you need the bumps to experience happiness.

You most likely are too busy or you have tried things which haven’t worked, or you don’t think these things will work because you haven’t tried any of them. The strategies do work, you just need a routine.

 

Routine is the Key.

If you build routine loops into your life which encompass more items from the happiness list above, you will experience more happiness.

The best way to build routine is to purposefully create a positive habit loop. A positive habit loop also enables you to also break bad habit loops. The habit loop looks like the following:

Cue > Routine > Reward (return to cue).

A cue can be anything used as a trigger to jolt your brain and the routine is a process you follow. The reward re-enforces the positive effect, and you are off to the races.

The reward can be a little tricky. You don’t want to reward yourself with a donut after you exercise, so you must plan your positive reward.

You can read much more about habits from, “The Power of Habit, Why we do what we do in life and business”, by Charles Duhigg. 2012. This is a good read with many corporate examples of habit loops as well.

 

The time for action is now.

Okay, lets start with a simple one to “smile every day”. Draw a little happy face on a sticky note or select a comic or something which will make you remember to smile at cue. You can try it now, look at the cue. Just smile, remember even faking it works. Now that was easy wasn’t it.

It is time to select a reward. These are rewards which create a positive feeling for your action you just did. For the smile habit loop, I chose a simple deep relaxing breath and a mental “way to go”.

Seriously, just try this for the next 10 days and if you don’t feel the positive effects, just change what you are doing. I know you will like it.

 

Next step is to build more loops.

Simply select other loops you would like to implement and put them in action. Some you may want to use tools like your calendar to help block time and trigger a cue.

 

Okay, so how does this help your employees?

There are three direct ways this can positively impact your employees:

1. Of course, they can create their own habit loops and you can be the helpful guide to more happiness in their lives.
2. You can create these loops targeting the routine processes within your business for your employees and provide positive rewards.
3. Happy people begat happy people through what is called mirror neurons.

 

Got it, now how do you implement this list?

The first one in the list is quite straight forward and I know you get it. To make it easier though you could create a one-page overview and post it somewhere for them or have a formal session.

For the second one in the list, you can start with a simple process your business does. Then work from there creating more loops. Tell your employees why you are doing this and get their input on the approach.

Please remember the team with Pat Doyle are masters at loops and we can really help. We would love to talk with you when you are ready.

You don’t have to do anything to take advantage of mirror neurons other than be happy and smile yourself around other people.

“It turns out that there’s a subset of mirror neurons whose only job is to detect other people’s smiles and laughter, prompting smiles and laughter in return.”

Source: https://hbr.org/2008/09/social-intelligence-and-the-biology-of-leadership

 

Conclusion.

Please smile, build some positive habit loops and call us! 😊 Deep cleansing breath, well done!

 

Please share this article. Be on the lookout for our next article where we will continue to discuss ways to create happiness in your business. Happiness for your customers and for your business creates positive results.