In this chapter: Achor talks about the second principle of happiness, the fulcrum and the lever. He explains how our mindset on a situation or towards any aspect of our life is impacted and ultimately projected into our reality. Much of the time, people are always looking at the situations that they are in with a negative spotlight. When it comes to work, schoolwork, etc, people area always complaining and looking at their situation in the negative. Achor talks about how instead of looking at our reality in such a negative way, we need to change our mindset so that we are looking at the situation in a more positive light. When something bad happens or when people are stuck in a bad situation they are always told to “look on the brighter side of things” or to “look for the silver lining”, however, most of the time these phrases are just said but not acted upon or believed in. People tend to focus on the bad, and cannot see anything positive come out of a bad situation. People fail to realize that our minds have the ability to change our reality. Achor talks about expectancy theory, where our beliefs can actually change the concrete results of our efforts and our work. So looking at a situation from a more positive mindset, can ultimately impact our reality.
One thing that Achor talked about in this chapter which I found very interesting is about how people can view their jobs in three different ways: as a job, a career or a calling. He also explains how the way that we see our work, our mindset, is what impacts our performance. If people find meaning in the work that they do, they are more productive and their performance is much better than those who believe that their work is meaningless and only for the pay. I believe I might fall on the latter of that spectrum. I work as a member of the customer service staff at Publix. Most days I dread going to work, and if I am at work, I cannot wait to get off but the time just drags on. I believe that if I were to change my mindset, and think of my work as more than just a chore, I will be more productive and time would pass faster.
