Happy Strawberry Moon, everyone!
As we ease into summer and the hydrangeas and garden roses begin blooming here in Toronto, I find myself struck by the awe and beauty that quietly surrounds us each day.
There’s so much science behind how we experience the world. My guest on this moon’s chapter of 3 Books has spent his career proving just that.
Join me in welcoming one of the world’s leading experts on happiness and human potential, a Harvard-trained positive psychologist and researcher whose TED Talk has been watched over 30 million (!) times, and a genuinely warm human I am proud to call a friend ... Mr. Shawn Achor! (pronounced like "acorn" without the n, btw!)
I first met Shawn in Abu Dhabi, years ago, when we were both invited to speak to the Royal Family of the United Arab Emirates.
I arrived a few days early, for dress rehearsals, long dinners, and meet-and-greets with various extended family members, and then Shawn showed up.
He flew in, crushed it onstage, dropped research studies like he’d memorized all of Google Scholar, and immediately flew out.
I was left thinking: Who was that masked man?
Well, over the years we became friends, and he was kind enough to blurb ‘The Happiness Equation’ after selling a million copies of his own wonderful book, ‘The Happiness Advantage’.
And then ... where did he go?
Shawn just sort of ... disappeared.
I found out why in his new book, ‘The Power of Beliefs’.
After his daughter Zoë was born three months early, spending 50 days in the NICU, Shawn decided to take a break—six years of no media, no international talks, no new books.
Six years!
But Shawn is still Shawn. An amiable son of an English teacher and a neuroscience professor, with multiple Harvard degrees, and a witty, research-centric writing style that is precise and uniquely compassionate.
Tune in as we discuss Shawn’s new book, his seven core beliefs (and their seven scars), the power of the placebo effect, what six years of "disappearing" taught him about parenting and living a more meaningful life, the psychology of awe, the cost of measuring your worth through comparison, and of course ... the brilliant Shawn Achor’s 3 most formative books.
Let’s flip the page to Chapter 162 now...
Chapter 162: Shawn Achor on becoming boundlessly buoyant by building better beliefs
View full transcript here
CONNECT with Shawn
Shawn’s 3 Books
First Book (25:49)
Second Book (45:24)
Third Book (54:26)
Word OF THE CHAPTER
Quotes
“If you look at this world, especially with AI and with advances in biotechnology, it feels like the role of human belief is on the decline.” – Shawn Achor | 3 Books Podcast
“There’s this hunger for people to find meaning and belief that they don’t know what to do with.” – Shawn Achor | 3 Books Podcast
“If you take the same world but change a belief, same world but a different belief, you get a different outcome.” – Shawn Achor | 3 Books Podcast
“We’re comparing ourselves to people who have more when there’s so many people who have so much less.” – Shawn Achor | 3 Books Podcast
“Moments of awe … I feel like are fleeting in adult life, because we feel like we’ve seen everything, and I feel like we’ve lost it.” – Shawn Achor | 3 Books Podcast
Show Notes
‘The Happiness Advantage’ by Shawn Achor
‘The Power of Beliefs’ by Shawn Achor
‘Big Potential’ by Shawn Achor
Shawn Achor’s TED Talk – The happy secret to better work
Cyber Truck Drivers
Oprah
‘The Wheel of Time’ series by Robert Jodan
‘The Martian’ by Andy Weir
‘Project Hail Mary’ by Andy Weir
