Emotion and energy are two factors that significantly impact your presentation and how well your message resonates with an audience. For those of you that have been following this blog, you have learned that emotion and energy are more than just intellectual concepts; they are embodied ways of being.
Scientists, psychologists, and other thought leaders have studied the connection between emotion (positive emotion) and success in life. Many have conducted evidence-based research and this week, I am sharing Shawn Achor’s Ted Talk titled “The Happiness Advantage”.
Shawn’s a lively speaker and the first several minutes of his talk take us from his childhood backstory to his work as a distinguished lecturer and researcher at Harvard University. Achor’s research reversed the relationship between success and happiness. Instead of happiness resulting from success, Achor found that success resulted from happiness.
Raising the level of positivity in the present results in the brain experiencing a “happiness advantage”. Intelligence, creativity, and energy levels rise. Physiological changes are occurring which make you better at sales, more accurate in your assessment of situations, and more present.
I invite you to take a few minutes and watch this Ted Talk. While this talk focuses specifically on happiness, I hope you will see that what is happening in our minds is more than a mental state. It is physical, organic and has a profound impact on how we come across in the situations that matter most.
I hope this video gives you a sense of how valuable it can be to apply and utilize the physiological changes that take place when we operate from a place of positivity. I would love to hear your ideas about applying this to the presentations and situations where you will be the focus of attention and when you want to make the best possible impression.
Until next week,
Cassie