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Hi Zenith Catcher, On January 4th, 2022, I finished reading „Solve for Happy“ by Mo Gawdat. A comprehensive book on happiness. One major takeaway I had was that happiness is a choice, i.e., it is your responsibility. You choose to be happy. (Maybe not what most people want to hear, especially if you’re in a depressed state) “Happiness starts with a conscious choice.” – Mo Gawdat, former chief business officer for Google X
But owning my happiness helped me make it my duty to ensure I feel good. Thus, over the past years, I have built up a repertoire of strategies that immediately make me feel happy (at least in most cases). Here is one of my favorites: Smile without a reason. There is this misconception that we ought to smile only when there is an external stimulus. You get a compliment or praise = you smile. But we can approach it from the inverse perspective. Whenever we’re having a low, we smile. I realized there was almost no option to be in a bad mood if I smiled. Hard work to do? Smile! Result: Feeling content and the work gets done more easily. It’s like jumping on a trampoline. I haven’t seen anyone in a super sad state while jumping on a trampoline yet. So the next time you feel sad, angry, upset, or annoyed… Just put on a huge smile and see what happens. I started doing that during my first internship in 2021/2022, and I did it almost always when I ended my workday. I would walk down the staircase, arrive at the entrance, and just put on a huge smile. I actually conditioned myself to that, associating hard work and my workplace with pleasure, for which I’m grateful. Smiling and, hand in hand, practicing gratitude in my head improved my life. And hope it will do the same for you. Warmly, Nicola PS: I do a podcast where I pretend to have a Swiss accent (wink). 190+ episodes online about high performance and business. You can subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. This week on the Catch The Zenith Podcast:
#199: 10 Definitions For Life. Listen on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or my Website. Inspiring Things This Week:Huberman: One of my all-time favorite podcast episodes is by Professor Andrew Huberman, who runs one of the best shows on physical and especially mental health. In his episode Maximizing Productivity (which I keep coming back to), he shares a ton of practical protocols—from getting early sunlight in your eyes to scheduling deep work blocks. It’s packed with tips that help you boost efficiency and take care of your health at the same time. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend giving it a listen: YouTube link. Podcasting: One of my favorite podcasts is Modern Wisdom by Chris Williamson. Over the years, he’s shared a lot about how he prepares for his episodes—from the equipment he uses to the small details that make a podcast truly great. I love how seriously he takes it. After reading the book Turning Pro, he made a conscious decision to treat podcasting like an Olympic athlete would treat their sport—he hired coaches, listens back to every single episode, and constantly works on improving his delivery. Long-form podcasting is something I really enjoy, and Chris is one of my biggest role models in this space. If you’re into podcasting or curious about the behind-the-scenes process, I highly recommend these two videos: Video 1 and Video 2. Quote of the Week:“A functional social institution—a hierarchy devoted to producing something of value, beyond the mere insurance of its own survival—can utilize the conservative types to carefully implement processes of tried-and-true value, and the creative, liberal types to determine how what is old and out of date might be replaced by something new and more valuable.”
– Professor Jordan B. Peterson, renowned psychologist, author, and online educator Video Recommendations: |
