From being the former Head of Learning at Thrive Global to establishing her own company, The New Happy, Stephanie Harrison is a true source of inspiration!

But, what made her take the leap from being a top performer at some of the world’s most desirable companies to becoming her own boss?!

“It was the process of doing it on the side for so long that continued to give me the confidence that this was what I really wanted to do… And then the other piece of it was simply that I just felt such a strong calling for this work. I felt that I had this really important information and it was actually selfish of me not to share it.”

With her company, Stephanie is looking to create a shift in consciousness around the concept of happiness and challenging ourselves to redefine it.

In my recent interview with Stephanie, she shares how even the smallest tweaks in the morning can significantly decrease stress and increase happiness every day. Here are her top 4 brain hacks to increase happiness & productivity:

🌟 Muster a Positive Mood

The mood you start your day in and within the first hour changes your productivity and your success throughout the day.

Action: Get yourself into some kind of higher-vibe state.Do something in the morning that puts you in a good mood. Something that gives you a sense of control in order to really set yourself up for your day. Be that walking your dog, listening to music, or going on a short walk, do something that you really enjoy.

🌟 Name the emotion you’re feeling when overwhelm or anxiety strikes.

Realize that emotion is just this wave that goes up and down, and if you ride it, you can just see it out.

Action: Name the emotion. Name it out loud. If it’s stress or anxiety, whatever it might be, name it and then create your own bounce-back strategy (essentially something that makes you happy right after the negative emotion you’ve just named).

🌟 Pick an alter ego

One effective way to avoid getting stuck into a situation is to imagine yourself as the person you want to be and use that intention to drive you forward.

Action: Pick an alter ego or a role model, someone you really want to be like. Channel your alter ego by asking yourself, “What would that person do?” Act as if you are that person and make decisions from that place.

🌟 Stop the Spiral.

The mind-body connection is very real, but the thing is most of us do it the mind-to-body way (we try to solve it all in our minds and for most of us – WE MUST GET OUT OF OUR HEADS). We should do it the body-to-mind way. So what you can do is use your body to calm yourself down.

Action: Stop the spiral – stress spiral or whatever spiral you are doing – by getting it out of the brain and into the body. It could be contracting your facial muscles or simply by breathing deeply. Anything that your body could do to release the stress.

What small tweaks will you be making to achieve happiness? Let me know!

Talk soon,
Cara