Locke Hughes | Greatist, August 2015
6 Small Shifts to the Way You Talk That Will Make You (and Everyone Else) Happier at Work
Ask us how we’re doing at the end of a long, stressful workday, and chances are you’ll hear, “I’ve been better” or some equally snippy response. Although it may be unintentional, comments like these can negatively impact your mood—as well as the people around you.
A better idea: Why not use your words to promote happiness, positivity, and productivity in the workplace? That’s the concept behind Broadcasting Happiness, a new book by Michelle Gielan, a happiness researcher and founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research.
Before she became a positive psychology researcher, Gielan anchored daily broadcasts at CBS News, where most reports revolved around death, destruction, and depressing news about the tanking economy. It was taking a toll on her—and her viewers:Research shows exposure to bad news leaves people in a more negative mood.
Then Gielan had an epiphany. “I realized that what was happening with the news was not merely a problem of too many negative stories,” she says. “The deeper problem was that we were also telling many of the stories in the wrong way.” After convincing her producers to run a “Happy Week” series filled with hopeful and optimistic stories, CBS received more positive viewer emails during those seven days than the entire year prior.
That success motivated her to leave her career in network news and pursue a graduate degree in positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. “I wanted to figure out how to tell stories, even negative ones, more positively so they can spark change,” she says.
Gielan’s main message in Broadcasting Happiness: We are all broadcasters. “The verbal and non-verbal messages we choose to send out (think ‘I’m stressed’ or ‘I’m tired’ versus ‘I’m happy to be here’ or ‘We’re in this together’) can shape others’ views of the world,” she says.
Here are six easy ways that you can start broadcasting happiness to strengthen both your personal and professional relationships.