News Archive
Management QOL in the News - December 8, 2022
Over 3 Million People Took This Course on Happiness. Here’s What Some Learned.
By Molly Oswaks
The Yale happiness class, formally known as Psyc 157: Psychology and the Good Life, is one of the most popular classes to be offered in the university’s 320-year history.
The class was only ever taught in-person once, during the spring 2018 semester, as a 1,200-person lecture course in the largest space on campus.
That March, a free 10-week version made available to the public via Coursera, titled “the Science of Well-Being,” also became instantly popular, attracting hundreds of thousands of online learners. But when lockdowns began last March, two full years later, the enrollment numbers skyrocketed. To date, over 3.3 million people have signed up, according to the website.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - December 20, 2022
This 28-year-old negotiated her pay to $500,000 — and found work-life balance
By Jennifer Weiss
After growing her salary from $100,000 to $500,000 over a five-year period through switching jobs and negotiating, Amy, now 28, wanted the kind of work-life balance that would allow her to spend more time with family. She also hoped for more time to engage in interests outside of work, like real-estate investing, and her leadership role with the Asian Investors Network, a Facebook community group.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - December 15, 2022
Beyond Happiness: The Upside of Feeling Down
By Matthew Hutson
Negative emotions do us a great favor: They save us from ourselves. They're signals urging us to change what we're doing—and they're actually necessary for feeling good.
No one questions the value of feeling good. In fact, it seems that for the past 20 years, everyone in America has been on a relentless quest for a blue-sky state of mind, in pursuit of permanent residence on the spectrum between contentment and ecstasy.
Feeling bad is another matter entirely. Emotions that generate unpleasant feelings have been called sins (wrath, envy), shunned in polite interaction (jealousy, frustration), or identified as unhealthy (sadness, shame). We suppress them, medicate them, and berate ourselves for feeling them.
Because such feelings are aversive, they are often called "negative" emotions, although "negative" is a misnomer. Emotions are not inherently positive or negative. They are distinguished by much more than whether they feel good or bad. Beneath the surface, every emotion orchestrates a complex suite of changes in motivation, physiology, attention, perception, beliefs, and behaviors: sweating, laughing, desiring revenge, becoming optimistic, summoning specific memories. Each component of every emotion has a critical job to do—whether it's preparing us to move toward what we want (anger), urging us to improve our standing (envy), or allowing us to undo a social gaffe (embarrassment).
We have the wrong idea about emotions. They're very rational; they're means to help us achieve goals important to us, tools carved by eons of human experience that work beyond conscious awareness to direct us where we need to go. They identify trouble or opportunity and suggest methods of repair or gain. They are instruments of survival; in fact, we would have vanished long ago without them.
Negative emotions are not only crucial to our existence but also—ironically—to feeling good. To live optimally in the world and endure its challenges, it's necessary to engage the full range of psychological states we've inherited as humans.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - December 8, 2022
A four-day working week trial has proven that working less boosts productivity and wellbeing
By Dani Maher
WE'VE ALL heard that less is more, but it seems the old adage really might be true when it comes to the structure of our working week. The results are in from a trial of a four-day working week, and you’re definitely going to want to show them to your boss.
Operated by non-profit 4-Day Week Global, the trial saw more than 30 companies comprising almost 1000 employees in countries including Australia, the US, and Ireland, conduct a six-month-long trial of a work schedule in which they clocked off a whole day early each week.
During the trial, employees were still paid 100 per cent of their salaries despite working 80 per cent of the standard time — but still confirmed that they would fit their usual five-day efforts into the shorter timeframe. And the results speak for themselves: Companies rated the experience a nine out of 10, reporting they saw revenue increasing by more than one percentage point per month, with a total rise of 8 per cent over the course of the trial — a 38 per cent increase year on year for the same period. There were also fewer resignations, and less sick and personal leave was taken by employees.
And to nobody's surprise, employees were even more thrilled with the experience, with 97 per cent saying they'd like to continue with their four-day structure. In fact, 70 per cent of them said a new job would have to offer them 10 to 50 per cent more to go back to a five-day week, and more than 10 per cent of respondents said they'd never go back to the old way, regardless of money.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - November 18, 2022
US Happiness Report
Presented by Gross National Happiness US
States are typically evaluated on a small number of widely used metrics: their economies, their education and healthcare systems, and the opportunities they provide to residents. These factors help assess a state's livability, yet each only partially answers a larger question: where are Americans leading their best lives?
In order to explore well-being in the United States, Gross National Happiness USA (GNHUSA) conducted a survey asking 5,000 Americans about their life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety, and the extent to which they believe they are leading worthwhile lives.1 This is the first nationwide survey in the United States to pose this set of questions, which has been regularly polled among citizens of Great Britain since 2011.
Read full article here.
12 questions to measure your workplace happiness
By Tara Parker-Pope
Do your opinions count at work? Does your job feel important? Do you have a close friend at the office?
These are just some of the questions that researchers use to measure how happy and productive workers are in their jobs. Given that we spend an estimated one-third of our lives at work, finding ways to improve quality of life on the job can have a huge impact on our overall health and happiness.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - November 10, 2022
Best of both worlds: hybrid happiness
By Kiffer George Card
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred on a variety of workplace maladies, including “the great resignation,” “quiet quitting,” “overemployment”, labour shortages and conflicts between managers and employees over returning to work in person.
Employee burnout and wellbeing may be at the heart of several of these issues.
Two new studies highlight the importance of social connection in the workplace and illustrate why working from home may not be the optimal workplace arrangement. Hybrid work-from-home schedules may help prevent burnout and improve mental health.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - October 26, 2022
Vitality is key to overall health, but survey finds most Americans aren't thriving
By Ken Alltucker
A first-of-its-kind survey measures a potential antidote to the pandemic malaise enveloping many Americans: Vitality.
The survey found 18% of U.S. adults had high vitality, meaning they were healthier, more likely to exercise and less likely to be obese.
Experts believe it's important to track vitality's role as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - October 13, 2022
Can We Reverse Our Psychological Age And Get Happier At The Same Time Using Artificial Intelligence?
By Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD
Last week, a paper I co-authored with the scientists from Deep Longevity, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Stanford, went viral and was covered in Fortune, Fox News, The Hill, New York Post, The Guardian and many other top-tier international media. In this study, the team used AI to analyze the psychological and biological changes during aging. This was the fourth peer-reviewed paper that tried to use AI to understand the changes in human psychology that transpire during aging but the first one to link biology with psychology. One day I will tell the personal story why a group of hardcore scientists studying biology and chemistry using AI decided to venture into psychology but these studies convinced me that human psychological aging is much more important than most scientists in biological sciences tend to believe. I firmly believe that the psychological age defines us much more than the biological age even though these ages, as this recent study showed, are closely connected. And as Laura Carstensen showed in her pioneering work on the Socio-Emotional Selectivity Theory (SST), psychological aging is plastic - we have the toolkit to modify it. And the recent study on aging and happiness demonstrated that it may be possible to get psychologically younger and happier at the same time. The results were so convincing that I started using some of these tools myself. Let’s take a deeper dive into how research in the psychology of aging and AI tools can help us adjust our psychological age and improve our well-being.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - October 6, 2022
TikTok, Instagram and the Endless Scroll of Unreachable Happiness
By Leonard Parker
We have observed this firsthand in the daily youth group we lead at a Massachusetts psychiatric hospital. Fortunately, there is a roadmap to healthier social media and happiness—and it hinges in large part on a subtle but powerful shift in perspective.
Leading a youth group is something many clinicians shy away from. While there is no question that getting youngsters to identify their feelings and eventually talk about them is a daunting task, we have had some success by making the group very interactive. It has also given us valuable insights into the challenges faced by this age group.
Our participants speak directly about how isolated their lives had become at times during the pandemic — and how their mental health has deteriorated. They remember the early days when they were removed from school and separated from their peers and retired to their bedrooms. Many admit to being afraid, often of things they couldn’t readily identify.
Faced with overwhelming feelings of loneliness, many teens consumed large amounts of social media to escape the narrow walls of their bedrooms. It wasn’t uncommon for us to hear reports of double-digit hours being spent scrolling TikTok and Instagram each day.
Herein lies a glaring problem: How can we expect our teens to be happy sitting at home while everyone who sees them on their social media feeds smiles profusely and seems connected to others? These curated snippets skew our perceived relationship from boring life tasks like homework and chores to fun, exciting adventures. The result is both a false sense of happiness and an inflated expectation of how happy they should be in their own lives.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - September 29, 2022
Lockdowns hurt mental health more than case numbers, deaths
By Tom McIlroy
Escalating COVID-19 lockdowns led to plunging life satisfaction, poor mental health and loneliness, negatively affecting the outlook of Australians more than higher case numbers and pandemic deaths.
Australian National University researchers have for the first time studied the direct links between lockdowns and life satisfaction for the entire COVID-19 period, finding men had worse reactions to lockdowns while women felt increasing infection rates more acutely.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - September 16, 2022
Warren Buffett says your overall happiness in life really boils down to 4 simple words
By Nathaniel Erickson
Warren Buffett gave one of his best lectures to students at the University of Florida’s School of Business over two decades ago. One of the MBA students asked Buffett a question, so to speak, asking the billionaire what he would do to live a happier life if he could start all over again.
Buffett's answer? He was happy for decades, but he quickly brought the focus back to students, urging them to make better decisions about career goals, finances, health, and relationships.
"The way to do that is to play the game and do something that you enjoy all your life," he said. "Connect with people you like. I only work with people I like. If I could make $100 million off a guy who turned my stomach, I'd say no."
Buffett's happiness lesson in four words: do what you love.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - September 15, 2022
A Key Component of a Happy Life
By Robert Puff Ph.D.
Almost 100% of our energy goes toward changing our external environment and surroundings to improve the direction of our lives. There is a real propensity to think that if things were different, life would go better. For instance, if you are having wonderful experiences, all your focus will be going toward:
1. Trying to recreate those experience
2. Trying to stay in them all the time
People sacrifice so much to keep their lives headed in a certain direction, believing that things will remain great. However, there are big problems with this approach to life.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - August 28, 2022
9 habits linked to a longer, happier life
By Kristen Rogers
Whether it’s pursuing a demanding career, eating better or maintaining friendships, accomplishing the feats we most desire requires a healthy foundation.
Living life to the fullest starts with paying attention to your body and mind.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - August 23, 2022
These parts of US are where Americans live longest and shortest
By Reid Wilson
Residents of nine mostly Western and Northeastern states were expected to live more than 80 years in 2019, while those born in two Southern states have a life expectancy of less than 75 years at birth, according to new government data released Thursday.
The National Center for Health Statistics data, shows signs that life expectancies had begun to plateau or even fall in many states across the country, a phenomenon demographers attribute to an opioid crisis that existed before the coronavirus emerged and has likely only gotten worse.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - August 20, 2022
Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy—And Simple Ways to Fix It
By Daisy Yuhas
Disrupted sleep, lower life satisfaction and poor self-esteem are just a few of the negative mental health consequences that research has linked to social media. Somehow the same platforms that can help people feel more connected and knowledgeable also contribute to loneliness and disinformation. What succeeds and fails, computer scientists argue, is a function of how these platforms are designed. Amanda Baughan, a graduate student specializing in human-computer interaction, a subfield of computer science, at the University of Washington, believes that interdisciplinary research could inform better social platforms and apps. At the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in May, she presented findings from a recent project that explored how social media triggers what psychologists call “dissociation,” or a state of reduced self-reflection and narrowed attention. Baughan spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to explain how and why apps need to change to give the people who use them greater power.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - July 21, 2022
A Happiness Columnist’s Three Biggest Happiness Rules
By Arthur C. Brooks
A good life isn’t just about getting the details right. Here are some truths that transcend circumstance and time.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - June 27, 2022
Forget Paris, London, and most of Australia: There are new winners for the list of the world’s most livable cities
By Colin Lodewick
What does it mean to be the best city in the world? Every year, one organization tries to figure it out.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a research organization owned by the Economist media outlet, releases an annual Global Liveability Index, a ranking of the best cities to live in.
The top of the list is typically dominated by cities in North America and western Europe, along with Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The same is the case this year, although there have been several key shifts. While New Zealand topped the list last year as its closed borders let residents have relatively normal lives, it has since lost its edge as most pandemic-era restrictions have been lifted across the globe.
Read full article here.
The Happiness Challenge: Make Choices That Support Your Joy
By Scott Stabile
I asked the community to consider the following questions:
- What is one thing you will do every day this month that serves your happiness and well-being?
- What one thing will you do, every day, that speaks to your willingness to take care of yourself?
Read full article here.
Apple's $5 Billion Office Complex Offers an Important Lesson About Employee Well-Being
By Kelly Main
Apple's $5 billion headquarters, Apple Park, is a space-age wonderplex designed by Steve Jobs to serve as a vehicle for innovation. Beyond its out-of-this-world splendor are seemingly small details that make some of the biggest differences in the lives of those who spend their days there--increasing workplace satisfaction, general well-being, and overall happiness.
Said to be one of Jobs's favorite parts of Apple Park is the 10,000-square-foot fitness center. What's genius about the space is not its innate splendor and lavish design, but that any business can re-create it without spending a fortune--or in some cases, without spending anything.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - June 16, 2022
Dare to share: how revealing your secrets to others can improve your life
By Michael Slepian
The normal course of actions is to share with others what we’re really thinking, but to keep a secret is to veer away from this everyday act of social connection. When this happens, you prevent yourself from fully engaging, blocking yourself from a chance to bond with others and get help from them. So, what happens when we form the intention to keep a secret? As you might imagine, this increases the likelihood of hiding the secret in conversation, but it also increases the likelihood of thinking about it outside of that.
The hard part of having a secret is not that you have to hide it, but that you have to live with it, alone in your thoughts. When the only venue to work through it is your own mind, you are not likely to find the most productive way of thinking about it. Like a carousel that just never stops, each time you think back on it, you may go through the same motions, having the same negative thoughts, reiterating the same regrets, and finding yourself getting nowhere. It often takes a conversation with another person to escape the loop.
So even if you do have fears and worries, know that the research shows people react more positively to disclosures than we often imagine. Another person can offer you two different kinds of help: emotional support and practical support. Other people can offer unique perspectives, guidance, and advice. The vicious cycle of negative thinking is easier to break when we bring others in. If you are currently keeping a secret from a friend, a family member, or a romantic partner (and the chances are good that you are), then you probably have at least one more secret than you need. Chances are there is at least one too many secrets kept from you, and this is all the more reason to share what’s on your mind. When you open up to others, others will open up to you.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - May 1, 2022
How to make work-life balance work
Nigel Marsh
Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity -- and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.
Management QOL in the News - April 4, 2022
Important Longevity To-Dos for Your 70s
7 Simple Tip to Improve Your Health and Well-Being
By Mark Stibich, PhD
People's health in their 70s varies a lot. Some people are completely healthy while others have multiple illnesses. No matter what your condition, there is a lot you can do to improve your health, prevent illnesses, and keep your brain sharp.
Here is a list of longevity "to-dos" that will have you feeling better and living longer. Embark on one or two per month with the aim of remaining consistent and progressing as your health and wellness improve.
Read full article here.
6 Ways to Feel Happier, Starting Now
By Kara Baskin
Happiness, we're often told, is one of those things you either have or don't have. It's framed as something that is given (and taken away) based on our unchangeable internal disposition or fleeting external factors: You’re born an optimist—or you're not. You're having a good day—or you’re not. Either way, it's out of your hands.
This simply isn't true. You make happiness happen. Positivity is a skill that can be built and strengthened, and cultivating an optimistic outlook benefits more than your mood. "When we're happy, we're more empathetic, emotionally tough, and creative. Our relationships improve. Our physical health gets a boost. It's a gift that keeps on giving," says Andrew Shatté, Ph.D., meQuilibrium's Chief Science Officer.
But sustained positivity takes work because humans are naturally negative creatures. After all, explains Shatté, we survived as a species by scanning for threats in the wild. "Some animals have wings. Humans had negativity," he says. This now-outdated instinct can keep up from savoring the good things that happen, because "our brains are so wired towards the negative that we compromise on the positive."
It's up to you to make happiness happen. Here are six proven ways to infuse your life with more joy.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - March 28, 2022
Science can answer moral questions
Sam Harris
Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.
Management QOL in the News - March 20, 2022
U.N. Climate Report
The U.N. released an alarming new climate report. Why is the world ignoring it?
Visit the U.N. climate report page and read key reports on climate impacts and solutions from around the United Nations.
Read climate change reports here.
Management QOL in the News - March 18, 2022
The world's happiest countries for 2022
By Marnie Hunter, CNN
Devastating loss of life and growing uncertainty have the world very much on edge, but there is a bit of good news for humanity: Benevolence is surging globally.
That's one of the key findings of the World Happiness Report, a publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network that draws on global survey data from people in about 150 countries.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - March 6, 2022
2022’s Happiest Cities in America
By Adam McCann
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a third of Americans to be so stressed that they sometimes find it hard to make basic decisions. Therefore, it’s vital for people to boost their happiness however they can, whether through family, friends, activities, entertainment or work. What people might not realize is that where they live may also determine how happy they are.
Location plays a hand in how bright or gloomy our days are. For years, researchers have studied the science of happiness and found that its key ingredients include a positive mental state, healthy body, strong social connections, job satisfaction and financial well-being. However, money can only make you so happy – people who make $75,000 a year won’t get any higher satisfaction from more money. Consider also the fact that while the U.S. is one of the richest countries, it ranks only 14th on the World Happiness Report.
But not everywhere in the U.S. experiences a uniform level of happiness. As this study aims to illustrate, moving to a certain city may help you be more content. WalletHub drew upon the various findings of positive-psychology research in order to determine which among more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities is home to the happiest people in America. We examined each city based on 30 key indicators of happiness, ranging from the depression rate to the income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per day.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - February 20, 2022
The health benefits of a random act of kindness
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
This year’s Random Acts of Kindness Day falls during a pandemic for a second year in a row, but the foundation behind it wants you to consider being kind every day.
They want you to be a "RAKtivist," or a "Random Acts of Kindness activist."
Here’s why: Spreading kindness not only helps others feel better about themselves - it can also boost the giver’s health and happiness, according to research. It’s a win-win for all.
Read full article here.
Management QOL in the News - January 11, 2022
How to harness the power of negative thinking
By Jonathan Dean
Sick of the #grateful, 'good vibes only' crew? You’re not alone — according to a new book, relentless positivity can be more toxic than you think.
Read full article here.
