Beyond Happy: Post #4--Doing Good

Doing Good. When we have goals that are true to both our values and our strengths and that provide a positive, meaningful impact on others, we’re “in the zone” of true well-being. There are three conditions that will increase our sense of Doing Good: Live your values; Develop your strengths; and, Be generous. 1) Living into your values means figuring out what you value in life. Cabrera provides a list for readers to select key values. Focusing on values that matter produces purpose—the holy grail of doing good. 2) Developing your talents into your strengths is critical to success. And the key finding that emerged from Gallup’s extensive research shows that people are engaged, happy and most productive when working in their strengths. 3) Finally, generosity—serving others—rounds out the three areas of doing good. Research by Wharton’s Adam Grant demonstrates the powerful effects of generosity on finding purpose and being productive.