please welcome shawn achor. [applause & cheers] thank you, and welcome.hing. you've probably heard speakers and read books about how if you just eat 16 blueberries then you're going to be healthier, then you're going to be happier for the rest of your life. or if you just buy this new exercise contraption and do it for about 20 hours a day, then you're going to feel happier. or if you just invest in this one fund, you're going to have millions of dollars when you retire, then you'll be happier. but what if we had it backwards? what if it turns out that we had the whole formula wrong. see, in each of those moments, we think well, if i just lose 5 to 10 pounds then i'll feel happier. who all thought that at some point in their life? right? or when i retire then i'm going to feel happier. in each of these moments happiness is off in the future. but it turns out scientifically happiness is actually the fuel that allows your brain to be more successful at achieving all those goals. i wrote a book called "the happiness advantage," and in it i describe all this