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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
Text LEARNERS to 44222
Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com
Episode #366: Laurie Santos –
Laurie Santos is a cognitive scientist and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. She has been a featured TED speaker and has been listed in Popular Science as one of their “Brilliant Ten” young scientists in 2007 as well as in Time magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity” in 2013. In January 2018, her course titled Psychology and the Good Life became the most popular course in Yale’s history, with approximately one-fourth of Yale’s undergraduates enrolled.
Notes:
- Sustaining excellence:
- Good habits: Form consistent routines
- Healthy: Exercise regularly
- Socialize with others
- They “offload dumb decisions”
- Create a morning routine – Limit the wardrobe (limit mental energy spent on trivial things).
- Harness the power of habits – “Set you exercise clothes out the night before.”
- Do it at a consistent time each day no matter what. This decreases anxiety.
- For writing: Stop in the middle of a sentence. This will help you get started the next day (and avoid seeing the blank screen)
- Laurie is the head of a college at Yale. She lives and eats with the students in the dining hall.
- She built her class based upon hearing the complaints of students daily (they were unhappy)
- Important behaviors:
- Gratitude
- Social connection
- Random acts of kindness
- Students didn’t realize their misconceptions about happiness
- It’s not about your job, house, or money.
- Happy people are:
- Socially connected – They spend a lot of time with others. They prioritize connecting with others.
- They don’t focus on themselves – “Others oriented.” They do more for others.
- Grateful – They look for the good. They have a mindset of gratitude. They write down 3-5 things they are grateful for everyday. They are mindful.
- The GI Fallacy – It’s more than just knowing… “You must DO IT.”
- Be deliberate about connecting with others. Hang out with people you care about. Set up Skype calls with others.
- Do NOT complain – It’s awful.
- Laurie’s class has become the most popular class in the history of Yale…
- Her lectures have been filmed for the Today Show
- Created The Happiness Lab
- It’s given more meaning to life
- Advice for mid-level managers:
- Doctors find happier workers use less than 15 sick days a year
- Work with your employees to do what they’re best at
- Find out what they’re getting out of the job
- “Your emotions can be contagious. If you embody calm, they will be calm.”
- Affective spirals – The leader can turn emotions positive
- How to run excellent meetings:
- Infuse it with gratitude – Say what you’re grateful for. Grateful team members are more productive.
- Regulate your emotion. Don’t transmit negative energy to your team.
- At home: Regulate emotion. Take time to pay attention to your emotion. What are you bringing home?
- Be present. Express gratitude to your family. Shift from complaining to being grateful.
- Say what you love about each other at your family dinner table
- The best way to learn is to teach it.
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