How to Be Happy – Flow State: What It Is and How to Achieve It

Audio Transcription

Don’t worry, be happy. During this Thrive Time Business Coach Radio Show, Clay Clark (the former U.S. Small Business Administration of the Year) talks about happiness and the 10 proven steps that everyone can take to be consistently more happy.

Segment #1 

LYRICAL MIRACLE: 

Happy by Pharrell Williams

It might seem crazy what I’m about to say

Sunshine she’s here, you can take a break

I’m a hot air balloon that could go to space

With the air, like I don’t care, baby, by the way

Here come bad news talking this and that, yeah,

Well, give me all you got, and don’t hold it back, yeah,

Well, I should probably warn you I’ll be just fine, yeah,

No offense to you, don’t waste your time

Here’s why

FUN FACT: “Happiness Index: Only 1 In 3 Americans Are Very Happy, According To Harris Poll.” – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alayna-kennedy/flow-state-what-it-is-and_b_9607084.html

FUN FACT: “70% of employees hate their jobs.” – Forbes

DEFINITION: “Technically, flow is defined as an “optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.” It’s also a strange state of consciousness. In flow, concentration becomes so laser-focused that everything else falls away. Action and awareness merge. Our sense of self and our sense of self consciousness completely disappear. Time dilates—meaning it slows down (like the freeze frame of a car crash) or speeds up (and five hours pass by in five minutes). And throughout, all aspects of performance are incredibly heightened—and that includes creative performance.” – Flow States and Creativity –  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-playing-field/201402/flow-states-and-creativity

Segment #2

HAPPY (Remix) by Clay Clark

I often asked what happy to me is

Happy to me is having 5 kids

Happy is being left alone in Oklahoma

Standing still in the same state like I’m in a coma

I hate traveling, airplanes and seeing seas

I hate talking about people with DIS-EASE (lack of peace)

Some people are happy

And some people won’t be

Which is why I limit access to me

No social media no interaction

With the people that don’t share my passion

I ain’t asking I’m simply statin’

How I got so happy No need for debate and…

I’m simply asking between you and me

Are you as happy as you can be

If said yes, and you feel free

Then you and I my friend are sharing those  keys

MOVE #1 – Have clear goals about what you want to achieve

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.” – Leonardo da Vinci

FUN FACT: “A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.” – Phys.org

Segment #3

MOVE #2 – Have goals that all you to concentrate and focus

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn

MOVE #3 – Participating in an intrinsically rewarding activity

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended. But what you’re doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you.” – Joel Osteen

Segment #4

MOVE #4 –  Losing feelings of self-consciousness

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.” – Ayn Rand

FUN FACT: Television’s role in influencing the mental and physical state of our society has been profound. Most people seem to enjoy coming home at night, and turning on the TV. Like any opiate, it’s a way for many to “get away” from the stress of our day. In the short term TV seems to have a relaxing effect.” – Psychology Today

MOVE #5 – Timelessness; losing track of time passing

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “You might not make it to the top, but if you are doing what you love, there is much more happiness there than being rich or famous.” – Tony Hawk

FUN FACT: “But it’s not just our problem-solving execution that suffers: A University of Essex study found that the presence of a cell phone also interferes with our ability to form close interpersonal connections.

In one lab experiment, researchers paired volunteers who had never met and had them take turns discussing an interesting personal event that occurred in the past month. Half the conversations took place with the experimenter’s cell phone sitting on the table. In the other half, a small spiral notebook was sat on the table instead.” – Psychology Today 

MOVE #6 – Being able to immediately judge your own progress; instant feedback on your performance

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” – Andrew Carnegie

DEFINITION – Hope – A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

MOVE #7 – Knowing that your skills align with the goals of the task

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on.” – Oprah Winfrey

MOVE #8 – Feeling control over the situation and the outcome

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.” – Robin Williams

AMPLE EXAMPLE of Cognitive Dissonance:

1. 1. Faith
2. 2. Family
3. 3. Finances
4. 4. Fitness
5. 5. Friendship
6. 6. Fun

FUN FACTS: “Are you feeling satisfied with your job? If not, you are among the majority of Americans—52.3%—who are unhappy at work, according to a new report by the Conference Board, the New York-based nonprofit research group.

Every year since 1987, the Board has run a job satisfaction survey. Nearly three decades ago, 61.1% of workers said they liked their jobs. That number has slid over time, reaching an all-time low in 2010 following the Great Recession, when only 42.6% of workers said they were satisfied in their jobs.” – Most Americans Are Unhappy At Work – Forbes

MOVE #9 – Lack of awareness of physical needs

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” – John Lennon

DEFINITION – Dissonance – lack of agreement the dissonance between the truth and what people want to believe; especially :  inconsistency between the beliefs one holds or between one’s actions and one’s beliefs — compare

MOVE #10 – Complete focus on the activity itself

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein