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Use the Magic of Momentum to Achieve Success

Inside most of us lies an ambitious goal we’re eager to accomplish. Maybe it’s writing a book or landing a big-time promotion, or perhaps it’s running a marathon. Whatever our aspirations may be, momentum can serve as an underlying force helping to inch us closer to our desired results. Take Jennifer and John-Mark Valo from Sylvania, Ohio: On Oct. 1, 2015, the couple set a goal to pay off $50,792 in debt by Dec. 31, 2016. The couple’s combined annual salary: $75,000. “It was intimidating when we realized what we were about to tackle,” Jennifer says. “At the same time, we were so hopeful and excited to accomplish such a big goal together. We knew we had to take it one day at a time.” As a bakery owner, Jennifer says she racked up the majority of their debt when she opened the business in early 2014. “Before having the bakery, my only real debt was a very small credit card and a car loan.” On the heels of their August 2015 wedding, the pair grew serious about eliminating their debt after attending Financial Peace University, a nine-week video course created by personal finance coach and author Dave Ramsey that teaches participants how to gain control of their money. Lesson No. 1 for the newlyweds: Pay off their smallest balance first, or as Dave teaches, the debt snowball approach. This method requires people to pay off their balances from smallest to largest, regardless of interest rates. The reason? Quick wins build momentum, that unstoppable sensation we’ve likely all experienced as one success seems to trigger another. What we may not realize is that momentum doesn’t have on and off switches, according to Daniel Tomasulo, Ph.D., core faculty of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University, and assistant instructor for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s not a start-and-stop kind of process,” he says. “It’s like a heartbeat. There will be times when you pulse toward your goal and times when you pull back a little bit. With momentum, you want to anticipate that there’s going to be this fluctuation.” Instead, Daniel thinks about momentum in terms of what provides sustainability and energy to move us forward in a positive way toward our goal. “It’s about the process of engagement along the way,” he says. Exhibit A: Jennifer and John-Mark paying off a $98 PayPal balance that Jennifer had avoided paying off due to its zero interest. After learning about the debt snowball approach, the duo paid the balance before even leaving the building where the class was held. “I got on my phone and paid it off right there,” Jennifer says. “As silly as it was because it was such a small amount, it was so satisfying to cross that off our list.” But that seemingly small action plays a bigger role than Jennifer implies. “Once people get those quick wins and begin to believe they can be debt-free, they become unstoppable,” Dave says. Margaret H. Greenberg, certified executive coach and co-author of Profit From the Positive, chimes in: “Time is finite,” she says. “But energy and momentum can expand and contract.” The process of momentum, Margaret says, is more about what you do to keep your energy up. And that process begins with your belief system. “There needs to be a spark, something that ignites us,” Daniel says. “It’s not like we’re trying something and hoping it works out and seeing what happens. We’re making that small change because it’s going to help transform us.” For Jennifer and John-Mark, the spark came as they imagined their lives after becoming debt-free. “If you’re just looking at what you’re doing, it can get kind of tiring,” Jennifer says. “If you’re looking forward to the reward—like being out of debt and able to give and save and spend money like you want—that’s very motivating.” And so they took drastic measures: Cable, eating out and trips to the driving range were just a few things cut from the budget. “We didn’t do a whole lot other than just pay rent and our expenses,” John-Mark says. “We tried to maximize what we could set aside for debt.” On Dec. 31, 2016, Jennifer and John-Mark made their final payment—and Jennifer got the first haircut she’d had in 15 months that same day. “It was a great feeling to know we were entering a new year without the burden of debt,” she says. Once you believe that what you’re setting out to do will be worth the effort, dedication and sacrifice that you’re about to put in, you’ve already taken the first step in creating momentum. Plan, Do, Repeat In the late ’90s, New York University psychology professor Peter Gollwitzer conducted a study that’s been replicated and referenced dozens of times over: Prior to the holiday break, he instructed his students to write a report on how they spent Christmas Eve—the due date: Dec. 26. He told half of the students to plan beforehand when and where they would complete the assignment, while the other half received no such instruction. Of the students who didn’t plan for the assignment, only 33 percent completed it, compared with 75 percent who completed it after prior planning. “We’ve come to believe that if we just do it, that’s our path to greater productivity,” Margaret says. “Research shows that often we should replace ‘just do it’ with ‘just plan it.’ Creating a brief plan before diving into your work can actually help you create momentum.” Take an aspiring author who decides to work on her novel every Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon in her home office. By planning in advance when and where her work will get done, Margaret says she’s creating triggers for herself. “You’re more likely to get going and keep going.” Not to mention the major benefit that often results from planning: the creation of habits, a key factor in maintaining momentum. “Habits are basically the way for the brain to function very efficiently using less energy,” says Delia McCabe, a former psychologist turned nutritional neuroscience researcher and author of Feed Your Brain. And since the process of momentum revolves around how to keep your energy up, it’s easy to see why habits play such a critical role. In his 2014 book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg acknowledges that creating new habits, like exercising and eating healthier, can be difficult. He writes: “Once we develop a routine of sitting on the couch, rather than running, or snacking whenever we pass by a doughnut box, those patterns always remain inside our heads.” That doesn’t mean we’re helpless. “By the same rule, though, if we learn to create new neurological routines that overpower those behaviors—if we take control of the habit loop—we can force those bad tendencies to the background.” Once someone creates a new pattern, he writes, going for a jog or ignoring the doughnuts becomes as automatic as any other habit. For example, each time Jennifer and John-Mark discovered extra money in their budget, they automatically applied it toward their debt. By developing that habit, it became so routine that the pair didn’t even think about it, which allowed their debt-payoff snowball to keep rolling. “Your habits are rooted in choice, and you making the decision to do or not do certain things will be what propels you up the success curve or down the failure curve,” says Jeff Olson, author of The Slight Edge and founder of Live Happy. “Time is the force that magnifies all those seemingly insignificant things you do every day to highlight something titanic and unstoppable.” A Hairy Situation In 2003, a group of 30 Aussies embarked on a mission to bring back a long-lost fashion trend. In the process, they created what would become a worldwide phenomenon over the month of November. The annual Movember campaign challenges men around the world to grow a mustache to raise awareness for some of the biggest men’s health issues, including prostate and testicular cancers, mental health and suicide prevention. Men grow a healthy crop of hair for 30 days, seeking donations along the way, and the money goes toward organizations aimed at improving the lives of men who are facing these health issues. Starting out as simply a friendly bet to see if they could resurrect the forgotten ’stache, Movember took on a new form once the four co-founders witnessed the enthusiasm behind the effort. “We were at a stage in our lives when we just wanted to produce something good for the community,” says co-founder Adam Garone. In 2004, they formalized the concept and decided to get all participants growing for the organization’s original cause—prostate cancer. That year, 450 Movember participants raised $54,000, and it was donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. “We had no idea whether $54,000 was a big or small number,” Adam says. “We assumed it’d be a small number to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, but it was the biggest donation they’d ever received at the time.” That set things into motion for the big-hearted crew, just as paying off $98 in debt did for Jennifer and John-Mark. Scientific research reveals that achieving success, no matter how small, plays a key role in continued success and maintaining momentum. In a 2016 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers explain that the perception that success is possible is the critical determinant and consequence of psychological momentum. As the authors point out, once people sense they can be successful, they expand their mental and physical effort, which leads to a positive-upward-feedback spiral of more psychological momentum and more success. “Positive emotions fuel our advancement and energize us and basically fund our momentum,” Daniel says. These days, Movember has official campaigns in 21 countries and has raised a total of $770 million to fund more than 1,200 men’s health programs—with no plans to slow down. Ready, Set, Go As you pursue your goals, there will be times when some extra inspiration is required to spur you into action. Maybe it’s at the beginning of your pursuit, or perhaps it comes as you face your first setback. Luckily, Margaret has a plan for that, and it comes in the form of three questions she refers to as “The Five, One and Smallest.” First, ask yourself what you would do if you only had five minutes. Sure, your undertaking undoubtedly needs more attention than five minutes, but Margaret says asking that simple question can trigger ideas on what your next step should be. The next question: What could you do to move your project along by just 1 percent? “We’re not talking about finishing it,” Margaret says. “We’re talking just 1 percent—what would you do?” Then, Margaret suggests asking yourself what the smallest step is you could take right now that would have the biggest, most positive impact. For example, an author might send an interview request to a sought-after expert in the hopes of gaining a valuable resource for his book. Whatever answers you discover after asking these questions will help spark your energy, ignite your momentum and remind you that you have the tools to achieve any goal. “You don’t need an Ivy League education and special skills to set about accomplishing any goal you set for yourself,” Jeff says. “You must, however, practice your craft hour after hour, day after day, and year after year—but you already know how to do everything it takes to make you an outrageous success.” Amanda Riderwrites regularly for Live Happy magazine.

KIND Foundation Winner Sandra Goldberg (right)

Giving

Community Heroes Awarded $1.1 Million for Kindness, Compassion

When he was a child, Daniel Lubetzky’s father told him about the Holocaust. In his father’s stories it wasn’t the death, hatred and inhumanity he had experienced at Dachau concentration camp that stood out. It was the kindness, like when a Nazi guard sneaked him a potato. “My father never forgot that soldier, he always said that potato—that fleeting moment of kindness—helped him stay alive,” Daniel says. That is why, when Daniel established KIND Snacks in 2004, he set company goals of promoting kindness—and of course making a really good nut-and-fruit granola bar. A little over a decade later, Daniel established the nonprofit KIND Foundation to further his mission. In December 2016, the foundation announced the annual winners: KIND People who “show us how to live a life rooted in purpose, forge an inclusive society and lead our communities with determination and humanity,” according to their website, kindsnacks.com. Honoring KIND people Doniece Sandoval, featured in Live Happy’s December 2015 issue for her work with the homeless, was awarded $500,000. Six other winners received $100,000 each. Although their work ranges from water access to prison rehabilitation, they all share one quality—the ability to put kindness into action. These are not the people who are going to see something and just stand by,” said KIND Foundation Director Dana Rosenberg. “All of them saw something and did something." In Doniece’s case, that meant converting old buses to mobile shower units and driving them to locations in San Francisco where the homeless could use them. Although her creation, Lava Mae, is innovative, Doniece said the most incredible acts of kindness she has seen are simple. “We think kindness has to be big,” Doniece says. “But sometimes it’s just the little things.” Little things like when a homeless man ran up to a shower unit announcing he had a job interview and everyone in line let him go first saying, “Go ahead man,” “Get it done,” and “Go get that job.” Many ways to give back Fellow award winner Jodi Rae Ingstad of Valley City, North Dakota, is known for doing little things—lots of them. Her most recent mission is delivering meat to needy elderly residents. Another winner, Jo Dee Davis of Columbus, Ohio, created a holistic rehabilitative prison program. In all, there were almost 5,000 entries—far more than the foundation had expected. Finalists were chosen by a group of judges that included Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and media mogul Arianna Huffington. Nominations had to come from someone other than the nominee; Jodi Rae, however, was recommended by her husband. “When we shared the nomination with Jodi Rae (Ingstad), she was so taken aback by the stories of kindness that her husband shared about her she said, ‘I didn’t realize he was seeing and understanding all of this,’ ” Dana explains. Promoting kindness According to Doniece, hearing about kind acts “lifts you up and makes you realize there’s plenty of good in the world.” Which is exactly what the foundation is about. By recognizing and promoting kindness, in this case by showcasing the winners’ work in videos and stories, they hope to inspire other acts of kindness. The response has been promising. Jodi Rae has been flooded with thank-you notes and offers of support. Jo Dee has also heard from people interested in her work. Doniece—even before the award was announced—received 1,500 requests to bring similar programs to other communities. She plans to use the award money to complete a toolkit that outlines the steps to do that. This year, KIND Foundation plans to work with Harvard University to develop tools to create kinder school environments and will continue awarding $10,000 to worthy causes each month. “Kindness is a magical power,” Daniel says. “We call it a net-happiness aggregator. Both the person doing the kind act and the recipient are better off afterward.” See videos of the winners and read more about their stories at https://www.kindsnacks.com/foundation/kindpeople/ Katya Cengel reports from around the world and teaches journalism at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, National Geographic and Foreign Policy.

Live Happy's Word of the Year to Create Real Change

Self-Care

Choose a Word of the Year to Create Real Change

The smooth white stones scattered artfully around Priscilla Gorman Oehlschelaeger’s office make a statement. Adorned with a single word, such as “Family,” “Prosperity,” “Kindness” and “Happy,” each stone represents a commitment to change and positive growth. “It’s something we’ve been doing at my church for more than 10 years,” says Priscilla, a creative coach and artist from Cincinnati. As each year draws to a close, Priscilla’s pastor leads the congregation in a guided meditation to help them think about what they want from the coming year. Then, each person chooses one word to represent that desire and writes it on their stone. “It’s really valuable,” Priscilla says. “People don’t realize that one word can make such a difference, but focusing on that word throughout the year really guides how I carry myself in the way of who I am and how I want to be.” The anti-resolution Choosing a single word to focus on can offer a meaningful alternative to New Year’s resolutions; instead of looking at behavior you want to change, it reminds you of what behavior you want to see in yourself or focus on developing. The practice can be rooted in both spirituality and science, and its effects are cumulative. “Having something simple, a single word, can make a big difference,” explains Jan Stanley, who has a master's degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and works with individuals and organizations to help them create lasting change. “It’s not something you’re going to notice on a day-to-day basis, but when you look back at the end of the year, you’ll be surprised to find how much it has changed you.” Jan points out that thanks to neuroplasticity, or our brain’s ability to reorganize itself by creating new neural connections, we can change the way we react to situations or change the way we look at the world. Having a single word to guide our thoughts for the year can be a powerful force for personal change. “As we focus on that intention, and look for ways for that intention to materialize in our day-to-day lives, it takes us back to the old adage that ‘what fires together wires together.’ “Say you want to be more grateful; you set an intention and write it down; then, when you notice things that make you grateful, you get that dopamine burst and your brain’s reward system kicks in,” Jan says. Those feelings of rewards in your brain add to the joy of practicing gratitude, and make you more likely to continue looking for reasons to be grateful. Over time, it becomes a natural action (and reaction) for your brain. Finding the right word Choosing the word to guide you through the year is a personal decision that calls for careful consideration. A guided meditation, such as the one organized by Priscilla’s pastor, is one way to do that, and meditations designed for this purpose can be found online. Jan also suggests using the ‘best possible future self’ exercise developed by University of Missouri–Columbia professor Laura King, Ph.D., which is designed to help you see yourself as you would like to be in five years. This can be done by writing down what you envision, or by closing your eyes and visualizing what it is you want to achieve and who you want to be. “Think about what attributes it will take to become that person, and then think about what quality it is you’d most like to see flourish,” Jan says. “This isn’t about goal setting; goal setting focuses on what you want to do and what you’d like to accomplish.” “This is about who you want to be.” Make it a tradition Turning this into an annual ritual has proven powerful for many people, including Priscilla. She says looking at her collection of stones reminds her of different stages in her life and of her own growth. “I can look at them and remember why I chose that word and I can see what each word did for me through the years,” she says. “It has meant so much in my life; it’s really a lovely, life-changing tradition.” Read more: 5 Experts Weigh in on How to Transform Your Life in 2017 Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy magazine.

science

What Can Telomeres Tell Us?

For years, scientists have known that telomeres—the caps at the end of each strand of DNA—protect our chromosomes and affect how quickly and how well our cells age. As telomeres wear away, it affects our aging process, which explains why some people seem to age faster than others. Telomeres shorten as we age, but things like smoking, lack of exercise, a poor diet and stress also can shorten them. The good news is, just as certain habits can wear away at our telomeres and expedite the aging process, there are things we can do to lengthen them. And the even better news is that many of these practices will bring more happiness just by making them part of your life. Change Your DNA “The little things we do each day can add up to have big effects on telomeres,” explains Elissa Epel, Ph.D., who co-authored the book The Telomere Effect with Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking discoveries on telomeres’ role in aging. Elissa says that an increasing amount of attention is being given to how habits like gratitude, meditation and happiness can influence telomere length. “We are talking about small habits during our life that really add up to healthy cell stability later in life, when we are typically so vulnerable to diseases of aging,” Elissa says. “People with longer telomeres are 20 percent less likely to develop heart disease.” While she advocates a healthy diet with lots of vegetables, Elissa’s prescription for longevity also differs from the traditional “eat right and exercise” approach. Much of living longer and happier is about changing our response to stress and minimizing negative thoughts. “Mindset and mental health are some of the most important parts of healthy aging,” she says. “We can’t forget the daily work of good, healthy habits…but fewer people realize that where we put our attention is also critically important.” Minimize Stress and Work on Well-Being Focusing on positive things, regardless of the situation, and finding ways to fully engage with life has a proven association with longer telomeres. Practices like meditation, tai chi and qi gong can reduce stress and increase the production of telomerase, an enzyme that replenishestelomeres. “When we can’t change stressful situations, we have to live with them more gracefully,” she says. “It’s hard to totally escape wear and tear. But there are different ways one can live with a difficult situation.” She recommends focusing our attention on positive things—even when there’s a lot of negative things happening—and to engage with our lives in real time. “Stress and aging are, in a sense, close friends. Chronic psychological stress can speed up aging in many ways, including by increasing inflammation in our blood slowly over time, and shortening our telomeres.” Adopting healthy physical and mental practices, however, can offset some of those effects. “They…are stress-buffering and essential,” Elissa says. “They are not just ‘good’ for you, they are critical for your survival and health span.” Read more: Be Happy to Live Longer Listen to our podcast: Tips for a Long and Healthy Life With Merlin Thomas Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy.

science

Be Happy to Live Longer

The search for the fabled Fountain of Youth is almost as old as civilization itself, but has largely been in vain. We have long dreamed of finding a way to avoid aging while at the same time (mostly) accepting its inevitability. However, that hasn’t kept science from looking for ways to slow down the aging process or make our later years more fulfilling. Today, there’s good news for anyone who wants to live a long, happy life. Science has found that happiness, not genetics, is one of the greatest predictors of longevity. Simple lifestyle changes can improve not only your mental health but can also change how your body ages. Just ask Cecile Williams, who didn’t even take her first fitness class until the age of 50. Today, at 77, she leads a busy life that includes trying new fitness classes, hitting Nashville’s famed honky-tonks to catch live music and attending fundraisers for social causes. Nothing about her, including her circle of friends, gives a hint of her age. “I always say I will not hang out with old people,” she says with an infectious smile. “They complain too much. It’s always about ‘my diabetes this’ or ‘I’m too old to do that.’ Too many people blame everything on being old.” Since retiring from a career with the Nashville Parks and Recreation Department more than a decade ago, Cecile’s life has blossomed into a rich adventure evidenced by her jam-packed calendar and strong social connections. Each day, she enjoys some form of exercise, whether it’s yoga, TRX, Pilates or POUND, a high-energy cardio workout that incorporates rock music and choreographed routines using weighted drumsticks. Despite coming late to the fitness habit, today she can’t imagine her life without it—and not just because it helps keep her body strong and staves off the effects of arthritis in her knees. “Being in fitness classes has opened me up to so many experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise,” she says, crediting the circle of friends she’s made. “It’s made me more diversified, and I am open to doing all kinds of different things that I never thought I’d do. Once I started spending more time with other people, I got more outgoing.” Those friendships have deepened over the years and have led to greater involvement in her community. Her 54-year-old daughter shakes her head at her mother’s latest antics. “She thinks I hang out with wild women,” Cecile laughs. “But she’s proud of all the things I’m doing now. And I am perfectly happy.” Without knowing it, Cecile hasn’t merely been enjoying herself, she has been consistently refilling a prescription for a long, happy life. Body of Evidence New findings indicate that if we are searching for that elusive Fountain of Youth, we probably need to look inside ourselves. Science shows that our thoughts and behavior play a bigger role in aging than we previously realized—and that gives us more say in how well we age. Today, researchers are looking beyond family genetics to find the sources of longevity and well-being. While centenarians share certain genes that protect them from aging, only about 25 percent of our longevity is genetic. The other 75 percent, for better or worse, is a combination of lifestyle and environmental factors. “It is not particularly apparent to us in molecular biology why what the human genome is doing should be connected to everyday life circumstances,” says Steve Cole, Ph.D., a professor of medicine and psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine. “And yet, that connection emerges time and time again. Our everyday life circumstances end up changing the way genomes function.” Genomes basically carry our genetic marching orders, and studying them helps identify the association between our daily habits and longevity. For example, Steve notes, one of the prominent findings is the effect of loneliness on our genes, which has a direct negative effect on our physical well-being. Loneliness, depression and stress are among the factors that create an uptick in inflammation and a downturn of antiviral activity in our bodies. Living with high levels of inflammation for too long will “statistically precipitate heart attacks, degenerative disease and strokes,” says Steve. “Those are three of the major killers of people in modern social settings.” Conventional wisdom has said that a healthy diet and exercise are crucial to improved physical well-being, and so is reducing stress (or at least minimizing our reaction to it). As it turns out, however, the missing piece of the puzzle may involve rethinking what it means to live well. Living Better, Thriving Longer Happy people, it turns out, have fewer symptoms of pain and illness and show slower declines in physical function. A positive mood is shown to reduce blood pressure during stressful times; positive people also miss less work due to illness and have fewer hospital visits over their lifetime. Adopting certain practices, such as gratitude, mindfulness and meditation, may help buffer against stress and lead to greater happiness in the moment as well as better health in the long run. In a study, Steve and happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., looked at how behaviors affect us biologically. They found that even when we are under stress, the way our body absorbs that stress can be very different—and it can be regulated by our own actions. Study participants who practiced acts of kindness for others showed a significant drop in the inflammation caused by white blood cells. Interestingly, study participants who did good deeds like writing a check to a charity or who practiced acts of self-care did not show the same positive effects. This led the researchers to conclude that simply performing small acts of kindness for others can have a big impact on gene regulation. “Prosocial behavior, in particular, has a very good effect on [our] biology,” Steve notes. “Focusing on the happiness of others, focusing on mankind, is both a recipe for happiness and, quite possibly, the recipe for good health.” Change Your Mood, Change Your Life In 1938, Harvard University embarked on a remarkable open-ended research project to look at what creates a long, healthy life. Today, the Harvard Study of Adult Development continues to provide insight into what affects health and longevity, now extending to the descendants of that original research project. What it tells us, says George Vaillant, psychiatrist and director emeritus of the study, is that how well we live is about much more than our genes, jobs, physical exercise or diet. “Genetics has much less effect on how long someone lives than their habits,” says George, who headed the study for 30 years. He cites alcoholism and smoking as the two deadliest practices, and says moderate exercise and a stable weight go hand-in-hand with longevity. Beyond that, he says, longevity depends upon our emotions and relationships. “People who live a long time have a lot of positive emotion,” he says. “And that means being part of a community. It’s hard to have positive emotion on a deserted island; you need other people.” Resilience, or our ability to bounce back from adversity, also affects longevity, but George says the No. 1 antidote to aging is healthy relationships. People who live a long time have a lot of positive emotion and that means being part of a community." –George Vaillant “Positive emotions, by themselves, are hard to measure, but what you can count are relationships. We know that positive emotions can stimulate the same part of the brain as narcotics, and giving to a charity lights up [those same parts of the brain],” he says. “It doesn’t sound very exciting, but it’s very healthy.” In fact, he says that tending relationships, be it with friends, family, a spouse or a support group, may be the most important thing you can do for your health. “Being nice and generous and funny and kind are more important to people’s health than they realize,” George says. “The earlier you start practicing these things, the better off you are. But it’s certainly never too late to start.” More Love, More Laughter, More Life Other research backs up findings from the Harvard study; Dan Buettner, whose groundbreaking work on longevity led to forming the Blue Zones organization to help Americans live healthier, longer lives, says that longevity walks the same path as happiness. “Health and happiness are inextricably linked,” Dan says. “You cannot pull them apart. Making sure that you have happy friends affects how long you live, because that’s contagious. And focusing on your immediate social network is more important than either diet or exercise programs when it comes to living a long, happy, healthy life.” He says having five positive-minded people who share interests in recreation—whether it’s golf, walking or gardening—and who truly care about you will have powerful incremental effects on your well-being. “That is almost the surest thing you can do in the long run for both making it to a healthy age 90 or 95 and enjoying the journey. [Happiness adds] about eight years to your life expectancy; it’s almost as good for you as quitting smoking.” Perhaps Dan’s greatest evidence of the link between happiness and longevity is much less scientific, though. “After interviewing about 100 centenarians, I can say that I didn’t find a single grump in the bunch,” he says. “That tells me that [happiness] is a really worthwhile pursuit.” Read more: What Can Telomeres Tell Us? Read more: Find Your Blue Zone for a Long and Happy Life Read more: Ikigai: The Secret to a Long, Happy Life Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy magazine.

Live Happy magazine February issue with Ming-Na Wen

Lifestyle

Take Charge Like Ming-Na Wen in Our New Issue

In our action-packed February issue, we catch up with not one but two on-screen action heroes, Ming-Na Wen of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Theo Rossi, known for his breakaway roles in Luke Cage and Sons of Anarchy. In addition, we ask five experts for their tips on how to turn over a new leaf in 2017—in every realm from food to finance. And we explore the myriad benefits of exercise: We all know we should be hitting the gym (or the pavement) more often, but new research shows just how important that workout is for our mental and emotional state of mind. Agent of Positivity Actress Ming-Na Wen, star of ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has become a role model at age 53, with a new book in the works and a burgeoning brand, #Wenever. Learn how this age-defying, butt-kicking superhero manages it all. Move Like You Mean It The overindulgences of the holidays are over and New Year’s resolutions are being uttered and scribbled. The gym parking lots are full. But will you be one of the many who drop those resolutions as soon as February rolls around? Not if you discover the positive power of movement. In this issue, we bring you two back-to-back features on the mental, physical and emotional benefits of exercise, including stories of individuals who have changed their lives by putting their bodies in motion. Building Your Best Life Discover the latest theory in creative goal setting, called “design thinking.” Dave Evans and Bill Burnett, the authors of the best-selling Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life share the concepts and practices behind their popular Stanford class. By thinking like a designer, you can plan and implement your dream life—instead of just letting life happen to you. Theo Rossi Gives Back The Luke Cage and Sons of Anarchy star shows how he rolls when his community needs him: the actor and producer is also a major philanthropist, devoted to helping veterans and ordinary folks motivated to #GoGetItLife. PLUS —Don’t miss Michelle Gielan and Shawn Achor’s ingenious experiments in goal setting that show how individuals respond to different methods and motivations. —Columnist and licensed psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser presents four practices and traits to develop in your children to help them become high achievers. —And for an extreme example of how to accomplish what seems like the impossible, get to know what motivates superhuman ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes to triumph over mental and physical challenges. Listen to our Editorial Director, Deborah K. Heisz, talk about the virtues of our new issue on our podcast Live Happy Now.

Self-Care

Your Mind on the Move

Holly Becka Pry remembers exactly when—and why—she realized she had to start exercising. “Our son was about 5 or 6 years old, and we had taken a family vacation to Disneyland,” says Holly, of McKinney, Texas. “I knew I had gained weight over the last few years, but it wasn’t until I saw those vacation pictures that I realized just how much I had put on.” As a wife and working mother, Holly was accustomed to juggling many roles, but suddenly realized she had focused on work and family to her own detriment. It was completely inconsistent with who she had always planned to be. “I wanted to set a good example for my son. I wanted to have a good, healthy body image and be at a healthy weight. And I wanted to live a long and healthy life.” Holly immediately started hitting the gym, knowing that the muscle memory from her days as a high school athlete—she played tennis and was involved in cheerleading and dance—would help her lose weight fairly quickly. While she knew what exercise could do for her body, she didn’t anticipate what it would do for her mind. After working with a trainer for a couple of years—and losing 30 pounds along the way—she discovered Zumba and opened the door to a passion for fitness she’d never known before. “It’s like it was made for me,” says Holly, who started practicing Zumba about five years ago and now is a certified instructor. She’s also received her certification as a Beachbody coach and is a certified Aerobic Fitness Association instructor. “I loved everything about it—the music, the movement, the people—it all made me feel so happy. I got hooked.” Now, when she has a stressful day at her job as a marketing communications manager for an engineering firm, or when she’s feeling a bit under the weather, Holly finds teaching or attending a fitness class can change her mood instantly. She loves the endorphin rush and the connection she feels with others in the class. Whether it’s kickboxing, Zumba or a good core strengthening class, she says it’s an automatic reset button for her. “It’s the best stress reliever I’ve found. I can’t wait to get to the gym, and I feel like I cope better with everyday stressors. It makes me feel so happy.” Movement and Your Mind What Holly feels when she’s exercising is a well-documented phenomenon. Although there’s plenty of evidence that exercise gives us an emotional boost, the “why” of that response has taken longer to discover. Neuroscientists studying the role exercise plays in our mental and emotional health have found that it boosts our psychological well-being as well as our physical strength. “Our mind thrives on patterns, or algorithms,” explains Joseph Cardillo, Ph.D., a best-selling author and research associate at Mind-Body Institute International. “Exercise uses all the core processing components of our brain, and when you create a pattern through exercise, our minds and bodies love that.” As a result, as we use our brains differently through exercise—whether it’s creating a rhythm in your jogging pace, learning a series of dance moves or focusing on using breath to calm and sustain ourselves—those new patterns become ingrained. “Your brain makes the connection between what you did and how you feel, and that’s the first step in creating a pattern and being able to use [that feeling] in other [situations],” Joseph says. Just as your body reacts physically with anxiety or depression to a negative or alarming memory, it can have an equally positive reaction of energy or calmness when recalling that moment of exercise. “When you become aware of that, and learn to use it, you can visualize yourself walking, running, playing tennis—whatever it is that you do—and your brain will have a similar reaction.” Different Movements, Different Results Just as we can select certain exercises to achieve physical results, such as bulking up by lifting weights or getting lean through high-intensity training, science now says we can select certain exercises to achieve different psychological reactions. Wendy Suzuki, Ph.D., author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better, and professor of neural science and psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University, is researching how individuals respond to different forms of exercise. Her goal is to find a method for developing precise “energy prescriptions” that allow us to maximize brain function. Wendy considers how age, genetics and lifestyle influence what kind of exercise is most appealing and effective for people to improve cognitive function, including those affected by normal aging or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases. However, she says we don’t need a laboratory to start researching how exercise affects us. “You can experiment on yourself to see how powerful one type of exercise can be,” she suggests. She recommends trying one form of high-energy exercise like kickboxing or aerobics for two weeks, then switching to a lower intensity exercise, such as yoga, for the next two weeks. “See how you feel after each one. Start taking note of your mood, your cognitive function and then start tailoring your workouts to what is best for you at that time in your life,” Wendy says. “People have genetic predispositions that we believe make them want to do [a certain type of exercise], so a lot of this is about choosing the things that bring you joy.” Change It Up What works for you one month may be too much (or not enough) for you the following month. Allowing yourself to pursue different types of exercise, just as you might choose to read different books to suit your mood, means you can learn more about what suits you best as situations change. Highly stressful times might call for anxiety-defeating yoga classes, or you might find you prefer a challenging kickboxing class. Then, as you learn more about what areas of the brain benefit from certain activities, you can begin to explore exercise as a cognitive tool that just happens to offer a lot of physical benefits as well. For example, while you may be hitting the weight room to build mass, you’re also doing wonders for your prefrontal cortex, which is where most of your planning and problem-solving takes place. Multiple studies have linked weightlifting to better executive function. In other words, it helps with multitasking, reasoning, planning and overall decision making. Practices such as yoga and tai chi will not only improve your balance and breathing, but have a direct effect on your frontal lobe, which can help quell fear and anxiety. High-intensity or burst training, which involves short but high-energy workouts, can help curb cravings and give us better control over our food choices. Better food choices can have a direct effect on mood and how well your brain functions. New research from the School of Medicine, University of Brasilia, Brazil, found that adults who participated in high-intensity exercises showed improved cognitive function. Less intense workouts have brain benefits, too. Research from the University of British Columbia links regular aerobic exercise to a larger hippocampus, which is where memory and learning take place. Wendy’s own research has shown the superior benefits of aerobic exercise on cognitive function. “It is so important as an overall health strategy,” she says. And while it may have been a few years since your days as a high school athlete, performing sports drills—whether that means basketball, volleyball or tossing a football or baseball—has also been shown to improve attention spans and concentration in adults. Pound It Out Those drills also can help improve things like distance and space perception and boost your ability to switch more quickly from one task to another. It’s exactly that kind of mental edge that Kirsten Potenza was interested in achieving when she created Pound, a workout that uses lightly weighted (and bright green) drumsticks to perform a choreographed, high-intensity workout. In Pound, class participants follow an instructor through a series of moves set to contemporary music designed to ignite both your body and your brain. Kirsten points out that connecting with rhythm stimulates the mind and improves focus, which is linked to better decision-making skills. As a drummer herself, Kirsten was familiar with the research showing such brain benefits of drumming, but also realized they could take that further in a fitness environment. “When you’re doing a workout, you don’t realize what is happening in your brain,” she says. “It activates both sides of your brain, and it can have amazing results. You’re helping your coordination, your creativity and your mood. It can do incredible things for stress, anxiety and your overall physical health.” A Healthy Addiction For some people, exercise becomes such an important part of life that they begin planning their days around it. It’s a phenomenon that Wendy refers to as “a healthy addiction.” “We don’t think we know the full details about what gets you to that spot, but we do know that part of it is because exercise increases dopamine in the brain,” she says. “Dopamine brings you pleasure, so your brain begins to associate the feelings of pleasure with exercise, and if you can start to appreciate that, it helps you get motivated.” Someone with a healthy addiction to exercise will look forward to workouts; it may even be the highlight of the day. They may feel irritable or become a downright grump if they miss more than a day or two of exercise. It’s different from compulsive exercise, which can become a destructive behavior that is detrimental not only physically, but can wreak havoc on one’s personal and professional life. A Natural High Holly says she regularly experiences many of those “high” feelings from exercise, and it makes her eager to return to her next class. More recently, she’s discovered that her positive feelings about exercise begin even before she hits the door—something known in positive psychology as “anticipatory savoring.” Rather than looking forward to something like unwinding with a glass of wine or firing up a cigarette after a stressful day, Holly’s brain finds pleasure in thinking about working out. “If I’ve had a bad day at work, I start looking forward to going to class,” she says. “I know it’s going to make me feel better, I’m going to be in a room full of people who are smiling and having fun, and I know how I’m going to feel when I’m done.” To further her motivation, Holly often plays music from her fitness classes while she’s driving. “As soon as I turn on that music, I feel better. I’m ready to go do a class,” she says. According to Joseph, that’s because her brain is having a sort of Pavlovian response to the music. Without even realizing it, she has learned to associate certain songs with the dopamine high that accompanies exercise. “It goes back to the pattern in your brain,” he explains. “Everything you can do to ingrain that memory, that feeling, deeper in your brain gives you more ways to access them later. The more parts of the brain you use, the stronger the potion.” Getting There Is Half the Battle As with any change, the hardest part about starting or renewing an exercise habit is that first part: getting up off the couch, or pushing away from the computer, and just doing it. “We live in a sedentary society, and it’s hard to get started without motivation,” Wendy says. “There’s a big motivational and comfort threshold you have to get past to go from being sedentary to really moving and sweating and getting over the hump.” Those barriers aren’t just physical, such as the comfort of your couch or the discomfort of sore muscles, but also are psychological. Wendy’s book includes several four-minute “hacks” to encourage people to get up and move more. Her recommendations range from having a four-minute pillow fight with your kids to doing jumping jacks during television commercials to simple tricks like using the bathroom on another floor at work and taking the stairs to get there. While none of those shortcuts will have the kind of dopamine-inducing joy buzz of exercise, they can serve a greater purpose, she says. “Four minutes won’t have a great health benefit but, motivationally, you need to start somewhere,” she says. “Very few of us will start by going to a spin class, but you can do four minutes. And that’s really what it’s about: finding a place to start.” LISTEN TO OUR INTERVIEW WITH WENDY SUZUKI AT LIVEHAPPYNOW.COM Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy magazine.

Podcast

How to Make Better Resolutions with Jan Stanley

Jan Stanley is an executive coach, consultant, speaker and facilitator who helps individuals and organizations thrive. Jan is well versed in the practical side of change, and is adept at finding just the right tool, system or method to enhance performance or to find joy and meaning in all that we do. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program, where she is seen as an expert on using ceremony and ritual to enhance daily well-being. What you'll learn in this podcast: How goals contribute to a fulfilling life Why goals and resolutions fail and what to do to increase rates of success How to commit to your goals once you've established them Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Download a free ebook Fresh Start: The Science and Practice of Designing Your Days

Lifestyle

Revolutionize Your New Year’s Resolutions

If you recently set some audacious goals for the new year, good for you! You are among the 45% of Americans who took the plunge to write down your goals, and research shows that simply writing down your goals makes you 42% more likely to achieve them. However, as a rational optimist, I need to level with you: research also shows that only 8% of individuals who set resolutions actually achieve them. I don’t say this to discourage you, but rather to call you to the mat. Are you ready to rise above the naysayers and make your dreams a reality? If so, read on. To make positive, sustainable change in your life, here are five strategies to help you reach your goals—and make them stick! 1. Focus on one goal While you might be tempted to tackle twenty new habits all at once, research shows that homing in on just one habit is far more effective. Practice that habit for 21 days in a row until it becomes ingrained; then you can pick up another habit to try. 2. Understand your motivation Rather than just pursuing a goal because you feel like you ought to do something, take a moment to connect why you want to do something. To help you do so, check out the Live Intentionally app that helps you prioritize your schedule around your intentions for the day. 3. Remember that practice makes perfect Falling off the horse is part of the learning process; getting back on the horse is where change happens. Cognitive brain training programs like Happify can help reinforce positive thinking and give you new skills to help accomplish your goals. 4. Involve others Consider setting goals with a group or sharing your personal goals with close friends to increase your level of accountability. Social support is important to long-term success and happiness, so tap into one of your most powerful success accelerants by finding friends who share similar goals with you. Apps like MyFitnessPal have built-in tools to share goal progress and to encourage your friends. 5. Track your progress Keep a log of your progress. While some people love to track habits with pen and paper, there are also a number of amazing apps that can help you see your progress over time. In advance of writing this blog, I decided to test out as many apps aimed at habit change as I could. What I learned through this process was that selecting an app to help me build positive habits was equally as hard as doing the habits themselves. There are about 100 apps on the market, ranging from free to $5 per month, and most look incredibly similar. So how do you know which apps are best? Let me save you some time and energy by sharing a few of my favorites by their core values. If you are looking for a goal tracker that is Simple—check out Productive or Balanced Fun—check out Habitica or Habitify Informative—check out Way of Life Good, but expensive—check out Strides or Habitloop While no app can’t make you achieve your goals, if you are like me, you need all the help you can get. Positive sustainable change begins with mindset and ends with action. Let’s make this the year that we beat the odds and truly stick to our goals and resolutions! If you need some extra social support and encouragement, you can find me on social media @amyblankson, where I regularly post encouraging tips and happy hacks to help you balance well-being in the digital era. Amy Blankson, aka the ‘Happy Tech Girl,’ is on a quest to find strategies to help individuals balance productivity and well-being in the digital era. Amy, with her brother Shawn Achor, co-founded GoodThink, which brings the principles of positive psychology to lifeand works with organizations such as Google, NASA and the US Army. Her upcoming book is called The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-being in the Digital Era (April 2017).

Well-Being

Make This Holiday Season Better Than Perfect

The most wonderful time of the year isn’t all that wonderful for many. Heightened stress, depression and anxiety can be as constant as the holiday songs belting out in stores. Why does sadness prevail for so many during the holidays? For about 10 million Americans, the cause is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of clinical depression that occurs in late fall/early winter and lasts through spring. For many more, however, the distress is subclinical, meaning it interferes with life but doesn’t prevent you from functioning. Kick the all-or-nothing mentality In my practice as a therapist (and, admittedly, in my own life), much holiday woe can be traced back to a common denominator: perfectionism. Perfectionism is not just having a tidy junk drawer. It is an all-or-nothing mentality. For a perfectionist, something is either perfect or a failure, as it should be or terrible, like everyone else or miserable. You may not think of yourself as a perfectionist, but it’s possible that perfectionism gets in the way of your holiday cheer. Pay attention to language. How often do you say (even internally) the word “should” when thinking about the holidays? For example, “I should buy everyone expensive gifts,” or “My family should offer to help out more.” The word “should” is a red flag that you are placing rigid expectations on yourself and others. This stringent, perfectionist thinking can cause a lot of distress when things don’t go as you think they “should.” Same stress, only stronger. While you may not get along that well with your family during the rest of the year, your negative exchanges during the holidays can cause the greatest disappointment. The same goes for loneliness. You might not typically go out much, but the lack of get-togethers during the holidays carries more of a sting. Or maybe your credit card debt is as big as Santa’s belly, but during the holidays you’re more upset because you can’t buy your loved ones everything they want. The holidays bring heightened—perhaps unrealistic—expectations of conviviality, and when those expectations aren’t met, our unhappiness is magnified. Sacrificing health When it comes to health and wellness, do you engage in all-or-nothing thinking, such as, “I had one cookie, so I might as well eat the rest of the plate” or “I have no time to go to the gym, so no exercise for me until January”? Another reason people tend to get the blues during the holidays has to do with health and lifestyle. ’Tis the season for late nights, libations and lots of sugary calories. Unfortunately, lack of sleep, alcohol and sugary processed foods are linked to depressed mood. Make it “Better Than Perfect” You put all your energy into making that one day amazing, spending hours planning, preparing and feeling excited. Then the day comes…and goes. A happiness hangover can take over when the event you anticipated for so long is now in the past. Again, an all-or-nothing mindset. So, what can you do to overcome this all-or-nothing approach? Be better than perfect. Better than perfect means dropping the rigid expectations and judgments. Instead, keep your attention on what is important to you. Here are four steps to do just that: 1) Focus on the positive While it may be easy to point out what is wrong (“Did cousin Krista really say that!?”), it can still make you feel lousy. Try turning it around by focusing on what you appreciate about people and experiences over the holidays. Yes, Krista really does forget to filter what she says, but she did bring her delicious fudge. Gratitude is a quick and easy way to boost your happiness. Read more: 8 Easy Practices to Enhance Gratitude 2) Create better than perfect health Get your sleep and take time to exercise and meditate. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you can’t get to the gym for a workout, try doing 30 jumping jacks. Does the thought of sitting and meditating for 20 minutes seem impossible? Try taking five deep breaths. It is better than perfect. 3) Give meaningfully When it comes to giving gifts, there’s no need to spend a ton of money or obsess over the details. Consider something meaningful, such as making a photo album or personalized calendar rather than splurging on an expensive present. Read more: 17 Ways to Give Back According to Your Strengths 4) Out with the old and in with the new Just because you’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean you need to continue. Drop unwanted holiday burdens and start new traditions important to you. Maybe you’d like to start volunteering as a family. Perhaps you’ve decided to stop sending out holiday cards because they cause you too much stress. Maybe you’d like to institute a new tradition of hosting a potluck meal rather than doing it all yourself. Learn from the past: Make the changes necessary to create a truly happy holiday for you and your loved ones. Make it a better than perfect celebration. Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and bestselling author of Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love. She had made many TV and speaking appearances, and is a coach and sought-after consultant. How much does perfectionism interfere with your life? Find out at BetterThanPerfectQuiz.com.