Shawn Achor once said, “happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement”(p.3). He should know, he’s a Harvard professor who’s been around the globe, written multiple books, and done a TED Talk. But what exactly does he mean by that? Does it mean think happy thoughts and you’ll get a better grade? Not quite. His seven principles for happiness are not just do when you need to, they’re a lifestyle. It’s something that’s constantly being improved and used to better enhance our lives here on this Earth.

So what is missing? What is it that’s making the up and coming generation so depressed and angry? There are multiple factors that can lead to this, however, the most important one is the world. Now-a-days the world puts so much pressure on being successful that there’s little to no emphasis on being happy. It’s all about your future. Just get that scholarship, that grade, into that college. So much pressure to succeed you can’t see the fact that what the world is saying is wrong.

It’s called the horizon effect: You say if you can just get this one thing right, you’ll be happy. Accomplish that one goal. Yet as soon as you do, the goal get moved back to something else you have to achieve. This is a reason why we, as teenageers, aren’t growing up as happy as we should. Each time we complete a task, we just make a new task that is even harder to accomplish. So if we take the time to actually put happiness in front of success, it in itself will cause the success we are so desperately looking for.

If you think about it, what was said earlier does make sense: think happy thoughts and you’ll get a better grade? Achor also states, “It turns out that our brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best not when they are negative or even neutral, but when they are positive.” It’s true. If you aren’t stressing when you are doing a tedious task, you are more likely to get it done exceeding your expectations. It’s not hard to be happy if you are willing to do it.

So what are some ways you can gain “The Happiness Advantage”? There are seven steps listed in Achor’s book. If you are to read it, you can find all seven and how to work with them. One of the most popular is “The 20-second rule”. If you shift what you naturally feel as negative energy into positive energy, you can change your whole day.

So what are teens missing out on? They are missing out on the opportunity to be happy AND successful. That’s quite a bit to miss out on.