The 4 happiness chemicals (+1)

We’re back to Simon Sinek (from Start With Why) , with a video I’ve watched too often to not write about it. This one is a presentation about ‘Why leaders eat last’, an analytical and biological – yep, that’s right – approach to leadership, organisations and the ‘happiness chemicals’. (Remember kids, hugs not drugs) Explained in a simple and relatable way, Simon talks about how these different chemicals make us happy, make us strive, alert us to dangers and how we create bonds of trust, among others.

Here’s the video, take a seat and strap yourselves in! Below you’ll find a ‘short’ list of the chemicals and their effects, as explained by the inspiring Mr. Sinek.

The dopamine list

Powerful stuff, eh? The information on its own is interesting enough but could be a bit much. Not if you have Simon at the helm though, who explains it in a witty, clear sort of way that makes it so easy to understand and digest. This makes it Continue reading

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Meet Henrik:

Meet Henrik Edberg from Sweden, his ‘Positivity Blog‘ is simple, inspiring and right up my alley. In many ways he beat me to the punch. Luckily, in the world of people sharing their positivity and excitement for personal development and happiness, there are no competitors.

Henrik writes “practical articles and newsletters each week about simplifying life, reducing stress, social skills, self-esteem and improving your happiness and awesomeness.” Sign up for his newsletter in order to receive the same updates I do. They’re generally short and concise. Sometimes one has a major impact, sometimes it’s just the little pick-me-up you need.

Today Henrik shared the following post: 21 small ways to make life simpler.

The reason I want to share it here is because I recognise a lot of the steps, from personal experience and reading/hearing about it elsewhere. Timothy Ferriss (from the New Rich) also recommends some of the steps in his work. For instance their take on emails and time management are similar in a lot of ways, and rightly so.

It’s a short read, so read it carefully, take in the information and use what you feel is useful to you. (and more)

As our mutual friend Seneca once said:

“Philosophy calls for simple living, not for doing penance, and the simple way of life need not be a crude one.”

J.K. Rowling – The benefits of failure.

I’ve been wanting to post this one for a while now, so here we go. It’s the Harvard commencement address delivered by none other than J.K. Rowling.

If you’ve read/heard about her life a bit you’ll know that she has had to endure quite a few hardships before achieving success with the Harry Potter franchise. In the 21 minute long speech  she talks a fair bit about these hardships, more importantly, what she learned from them. Hence the title, “The benefits of failure.” As mentioned, it’s quite a long speech and I wasn’t sure which parts I was going to use. I think it’s a great watch/listen in total, but I realise not everyone is willing to dissect and analyse the full 21 minutes, so I decided to take a few topics and quotes out and talk about those instead. Continue reading

Tim Minchin – 9 life lessons

This is possibly the most interesting video you’ll ever watch. I found it incredibly inspiring, activating and altogether well performed. Above all, it is performed by the marvelous Tim Minchin. Australian comedian, writer, singer and many more. I’ve seen him before in comedy shows and on Australian/British tv, but it wasn’t until I watched this video that I realised what kind of person he is and what he believes him. The thoughts he shares in the video are the thoughts of what I like to call a superior realist. Not realism in the wikipedia sense, but as in someone who found out what is truly important in life. One of those people who go beyond common standards to figure out who they are and what they want to do in life. Brilliant.

In the video below he shares, and I quote: “on the ripe old age of 37.9, I bestow upon you 9 life lessons”. I will list them below, but for further detail be sure to watch the video. *Note: Tim Minchin speech goes on until around minute 12:00.

If you’ve now watched it, I hope you liked it as much as I do. Keep in mind; the real meaning of his words are what you decide to do with them. In any case, his 9 life lessons are: Continue reading