Happiness is the precursor to success.

It's hard to find happiness after success if the goalposts of success keep changing.

Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its finite resources as you process the world.

I've worked with farmers in Zimbabwe who've lost their lands. I've worked with people in Venezuela, under threat of kidnappings, whose external world is unstable. But they have very strong social connections with their family and friends. And as a result, they're able to maintain a greater level of happiness and optimism than I've seen from bankers, consultants, or salespeople who are on the road all the time, who follow jobs separated from their families, and, as a result, find themselves missing out on the happiness that comes from those very connections that they severed.

When a manager openly expresses his faith in an employee's skill, he doesn't just improve mood and motivation; he actually improves their likelihood of succeeding.

Your brain at positive is 31% more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed.

The fastest way to disengage an employee is to tell him his work is meaningful only because of the paycheck.