Use small wins, EVERY SINGLE DAY

Director of research at Harvard Business school, Teresa Amabile, wrote a book called The Progress Principle.

Teresa has been publishing articles for over 4 decades now on areas such as productivity, psychology and happiness.

In her book she asks the question about how we can feel good about the work we are doing, whether that be as an employee at work or a student in a class.

The vast majority of people surveyed on this question were unable to answer it correctly (95% of people in fact!):

Why feel good about the work we do in the first place?

That answer is pretty straightforward. When we FEEL good in ourselves and in our minds, we tend to be more creative, more productive and in general, better at what we are doing.

How we reach this place of feeling good?

Making PROGRESS!

Consistent, small gains towards a goal make us happier!

The research presented by Teresa Amabile shows us that these positive and progressive steps equals more a more productive student/employee/person!

The positive feedback loop that we feel from making steps forward in the right direction towards our goal gives us the endorphin release in our brains to propel us towards the next part of the activity, and usually in a more effective and efficient manner.

Big wins?

It’s worth noting that we don’t need the massive wins (which don’t happen all that often for ANYONE) to make us happy in what we do.

Many people think that it is these “big wins” that make us happy, but the fact that they happen so rarely means that there must be an alternative that keeps us going in the interim.

With this in mind, we need to feel that we are getting “better”, learning from what we are doing, getting us closer to a finish-line/goal that we have set (or is set for us).

Keep that in mind as you study. Know that making daily progress, no matter how small, is what makes us happier in what we do.

Here’s to being happy, from day to day to day