Today at a Glance

Read time: 5 minutes

• Actionable Insights: How to use positive psychology for happiness

• The One Section: Pixar’s journey, Unacademy founder’s productivity routine, and more

• What I’m Reading: Books on getting rich, deliberate practice, and mastery

• Content I shared: Effects of sugary and processed food, flow chart on training volume, and more

Using Positive Psychology for Happiness

My friend sent some long messages this Wednesday. She was fed up with how things were going. Her main problems were a negative outlook on life, overthinking simple stuff, and social anxiety.

I realized implementing positive psychology is so simple for problems like these yet most people don’t know about it.

What is positive psychology?

Positive psychology is about:

• Focusing on positive Emotions

• Creating a meaningful and joyful life

• Being grateful for all the good things in life

• Being kind to others

• Doing the things that make us fulfilled

How can you implement it?

1. Write 3 positive things daily

Choose any notebook and write down 3 positive things that happened during the day. This will train your brain to look at things from a positive perspective. Your negative thinking habit will slowly shift toward positive thinking.

2. Meditate

Sit for 10-30 minutes daily and just close your eyes. Try to focus on your breath. Whenever you find yourself lost in thoughts, smile and come back to your breath. Meditation will clear your mental cache and remove any underlying anxiety so that you are more secure, confident, and compassionate. Not just towards others but to yourself as well. Less overthinking and more clarity are a bonus.

3. Spend time doing things you get lost in

Put your phone on airplane mode and put headset if you’re not alone. Do something you love for 1-2 hours. The goal here is to reach the state of FLOW, a state when you are so lost and focused on the activity that everything else seems to fade away. It can be writing, painting, building something, or anything you enjoy doing. It’s the secret behind the long lives of Japanese artists, as mentioned in IKIGAI 

4. Invest in your relationships

Put your smartphone away and have conversations with your loved ones. Watching TV together does not count. Send a text to one of your friends to let them know how much they mean to you.

According to recent research, meaningful relationships are the biggest denominator behind happiness. Money and fame don’t matter after a point. Having good relationships is the secret to happiness

5. Mindful self-compassion

Be kind to yourself, especially during challenging times. Avoid being self-critical. Meditation will help you to be aware of self-criticism and you will be able to turn around.

If you don’t love yourself who will?
~ Naval

If you follow the above steps for at least 3 months, Positive Psychology will become a part of your personality. It won’t be something that you have to practice; rather, you will naturally be less self-critical, more positive, and more fulfilled in life.

One Article

Read the inspiring journey of Pixar, it shows how powerful vision, persistence and innovation can be. If you’re seeking inspiration and insights into these qualities, this article is a good read to help you achieve your goals despite the odds.

One Thread

Unacademy founder Gaurav Munjal published this thread on Sunday, it’s clearly written and the process is well-explained. Do check it out.

One Quote

One Question

I finished reading The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, I don’t recommend reading this at all. It’s similar to The Secret, the mental masturbation feel-good book. Think and manifest and you shall have it. I wish getting rich worked like that. It can help you to reorient the limiting belief systems that keep you poor, but other than that it’s a very average book.

I started reading Deep Work by Cal Newport, I remember giving this as a gift to my ex but never got around to reading it myself (and I’m pretty sure neither did she)

Still reading The One Thing by Gary Keller, it is almost complete now.

Tweet on how getting better makes you incompatible with society:

Flow chart on how to adjust your reps and sets in the gym:

A vicious cycle of eating sugary and processed food: