How to Radiate Happiness: My Review of Broadcasting Happiness
This week’s book review is of Broadcasting Happiness: The Science of Igniting and Sustaining Positive Change by Michelle Gielan
The core idea of this book is not just about being happy yourself, but about helping others around you be happy as well. I'm sure we've all met people we could describe as "energy vampires" that drain happiness at work. I think this book has great advice on how you can become a positive influence and radiate happiness instead. The book is divided into three parts: capitalizing on positivity, overcoming stress and negativity, and creating a positive ripple effect. Each part covers psychology research and includes practical tips on how to implement the suggested strategies.
The author, Michelle Gielan, is a former news anchor that left her job because she found that the news that she reported was very negative. I thought that was interesting because I tend to avoid watching news programs since so much news is focused on the negative. I hadn't considered how all that negative news also took a toll on the news anchors. Fun fact: her husband is the author of The Happiness Advantage, the book I reviewed the week before last!
One of my favorite concepts in the book is called looking at the facts. The example given is when Michelle was trying to get pregnant, she was worried that her chances of a successful pregnancy would be very low after she turned 35. The conventional wisdom was that the odds of becoming pregnant decrease significantly after women turn 35. However, she later discovered that those odds came from a research study that used very old data and in the modern age your chances of becoming pregnant do not change all that much after you turn 35. This was a nice corollary to my principle to live in reality. It's important to fact-check reality to make sure you're not running on faulty assumptions.
Another interesting idea from the book is that based on research, 31% of people are positive at work but aren't expressive of it. Michelle refers to these as the Hidden 31 - people that are already positive but just need to start broadcasting that fact. This unlocks a new path to raising happiness at your organization. Rather than trying to convince the most pessimistic people to become positive, you may have more success looking for the people that are already positive and help them start broadcasting.
I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone looking to make their workplace a happier place.