Time to read: 3 minutes

Article at a Glance:

Our brains are biased toward negativity, but we can retrain them to focus on the positive.
A positive mindset improves creativity, productivity, and well-being, making us more effective and fulfilled.
“Unicorn moments” are shifts in perspective that spark joy, and we can create more of them through simple daily habits.
Five key practices: gratitude, journaling, exercise, meditation, and acts of kindness.

In his TED Talk “The Happy Secret to Better Work,” Shawn Achor shares a graph. It’s a fake graph, by the way, but it illustrates an important point.

The dots on the graph form a neat line sloping upward, showing a clear trend. However, one dot sits much higher than its peers. This is an outlier.

We could ignore that weirdo because it’s throwing off the trend…or we can learn from it.

“If we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average,” says Achor. “Instead of deleting you, what I want to do is study you, because maybe we can glean information not just on how to move people up to the average, but on how to move the entire average up…”

So what does this have to do with happiness?

From Normal to Exceptional

A negative outlook is common. Average. Our human brains are wired to scan for potential threats, so we naturally pay more attention to the negative in our environment. This also shapes our news system, because this evolutionary quirk of our brains means that negativity and fear get more viewers.

This is a problem, because it’s hard to be happy with a negative outlook.

The Science of a Positive State

Achor shares statistics that reveal that when we’re in a positive state of mind, we’re more creative, better at problem solving, more productive, etc. So happiness isn’t just a far more pleasant way to live, it makes us more effective human beings who can have a stronger positive impact on the world.

So if we want to elevate the human experience for ourselves and others, we need to learn how to be happy.

How?

Shawn Achor shares a story: When he was seven and his little sister was five, they were playing on the top of a bunk bed, when Amy fell off (the cause of her fall is disputed). She landed hard on all fours, and panicked, Shawn didn’t want her to cry and get him in trouble.

So he did the first thing he could think of: he told her no human could land on all fours like that, and that she was actually a unicorn.

Positive mindset unlocked!

While this didn’t change the fact that Amy was in pain, it did change her perspective on the situation.

Training the Brain for Joy

Perspective is everything when it comes to happiness.

Yes, there are a lot of negative things around us, but we can also celebrate what’s right with the world and choose to focus on the positive. We can create “unicorn moments” for ourselves and train our brains to be happier, which isn’t just a far more pleasant way to live, but makes us more effective people as well.

So how can we train our brains to scan for the positive and have more “unicorn moments?”

Five Practices for more “Unicorn Moments”

Achor shares five simple practices we can work into our daily lives:

Write down 3 things you’re grateful for.
Journal a few minutes about a positive experience from the past 24 hours.
Exercise (even ten minutes helps!)
Meditation (again, a few minutes makes a difference!)
Random acts of kindness. (These can be simple, like giving a compliment or holding a door open for someone.)

These things train our brain to scan our environment for the positive. After all, if you know you need to write about gratitude and a positive experience, you’ll be looking for material!

Exercise gets your happiness hormones going and teaches your brain that your actions matter.

Meditation trains your brain to focus (so you can direct it to the positive more easily) and acts of kindness just feel good, because you’re helping the people around you.

It’s Simple, Not Easy

This isn’t about ignoring pain or pretending everything’s great. It’s about intentionally choosing what you pay attention to.

It’s about being the outlier in the graph and pulling the average up with you.

Try these practices. Create more unicorn moments. And notice how your outlook (and impact) begins to shift.