The Happiness Squad Podcast with Ashish Kothari

In today's episode of The Happiness Squad, Ashish and Anil guide you through another daily practice you can use to lead a more purposeful life: investing in well-being. In this first episode of a three-part series - that will address the body, mind, and spirit - Ashish and Anil will talk about how taking care of our physical health through movement is essential for overall well-being. They emphasize the importance of taking care of our well-being, as without it, we cannot be happy, flourish, or live our purpose. They discuss the current well-being crisis and why it is important to address it. They also note that people are living longer but not necessarily healthier, and the longer years are filled with suffering.Ashish and Anil share some simple tips and tiny steps that you can take to take care of your well-being, approaching it from a place of compassion for yourself and others. They unpack some essential tips for listeners, highlighting the power of community and the stories we tell ourselves that affect our relationship with well-being. They stress the need to have a growth mindset and avoid putting limitations on our bodies that keep us from reaching our potential. They also share some simple tips on how you can easily integrate movement into your personal and professional life and so much more.Enjoy!What You’ll Learn in this Show:Taking care of our physical health can have positive effects on our mental and emotional well-being.The power of community and the role it can play in supporting our well-being goals.How our limiting beliefs about ourselves can impact our willingness to try new things and take care of ourselves.Focus on taking tiny but mighty steps toward better health and happiness.How to integrate movement into your daily life.And so much more...Resources:Happinesssquad.com @MyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBook:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

In today's episode of The Happiness Squad, Ashish and Anil guide you through another daily practice you can use to lead a more purposeful life. Today's exercise is fueling up with compassion. It's incredibly important to acknowledge this, especially at the start of someone's journey into self discovery. There are clear benefits to giving ourselves self permission to make mistakes and grow in the process. This practice begins with you - you stoke the flame of self love and compassion from the moment you wake up till the end of your day. Only through self compassion are you able to offer kindness and generosity to others. The Dalai Lama has said that love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot exist. Ashish and Anil share personal and professional reflections to illustrate how critical this practice is for embracing our inner critic, and taking the advice, but not the abuse.Join Ashish and Anil for this fascinating discussion.What You’ll Learn in this Show:The idea of compassion and why it's important.The concept of imposter syndrome.Why you can’t shun your inner critic.The importance of being our authentic selves.Resources:Happiness Squad WebsiteMyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBooks:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

In today's episode of The Happiness Squad, Ashish and Anil guide you through another daily practice you can use to lead a more purposeful life. Today's exercise is all about mastering your emotions. We are all gifted with rich memories and vivid imaginations, but those gifts can sometimes lead to suffering and anxiety. We feel stuck in the past, reliving negative events and obsessing about how we can control our future. These worries can harden our hearts and close us off from growth and joy. Today we'll look at ways that you can incorporate radical acceptance to open your heart and create lightness and new possibilities for your future. We'll focus specifically on anger and resentment. We'll each share personal stories from our past and present to illustrate the practices, and we encourage you to wait till the end, where we'll share three tips that we can follow to achieve mastery of our anger.Join Ashish and Anil for this fascinating discussion.What You’ll Learn in this Show:What it really means to "master" our emotions.The reasons why we instinctively need to act on something that we are averse to.The difference between feeling anger, and associating with anger.The importance of compassion and understanding why the other person is acting the way they are.Resources:Happiness Squad WebsiteMyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBooks:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

The power of creating a genuine connection can turn a brief moment into a sacred moment. This may sound easy and straightforward, but is it something that we truly practice daily?In today’s show, Ashish and Anil are going to have a fascinating conversation with professor Amy Young on how she hardwires organizations for human flourishing and connection.Amy Young is on the Business Communications faculty at the Ross School of Business and received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. She teaches positive business communications at Ross and she also uses science to identify practical solutions for companies and organizations. She has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies in the financial, manufacturing, consumer products, automotive, and healthcare industries.In this episode, Amy is going to talk about her work on translating the science of flourishing into practice and the importance of compassionate leadership. You will find out that leaders and individuals of all levels can integrate compassion and kindness into their daily lives to not only encourage themselves but also others to flourish. And as a result, improve well-being at an organizational and individual level. You will also learn about our Sunflower Model and Amy’s favorite practice to hardwire for happiness.Amy will talk about her experience in helping leaders shape positive working environments where people can thrive, the flourishing triangle and the PERMA model, why compassionate leaders truly stand out and stand apart from the rest and so much more.Listen now and enjoy!What You’ll Learn in this Show:How to shape positive working environments where people can thrive.How can you start to make a difference and create an environment of flourishing around you?The most important things beyond work-life balance for employeesThe importance of feeling valued and connecting meaning to what you're doingAnd so much more...Resources:Happinesssquad.com @MyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBooks:You Are Worth the Work: Moving Forward from Trauma to FaithHardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best LifeThe Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and ExerciseThe Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

On today's episode of the The Happiness Squad, Ashish and Anil sit down to discuss Ashish's book, 'Hardwired for Happiness.' Specifically, they discuss the benefits that come from developing a feeling of gratitude in your life. As the Willie Nelson quote says, "When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."During the episode, Ashish and Anil discuss the resonance of positive versus negative thoughts and comments, and how you can use gratitude to amplify the positive in your life.They offer some thoughts on the amount of disillusionment that exists in the world, particularly in young people. They discuss a CDC report indicating that, in 2021, an estimated one in three teenage girls contemplated suicide.They also explain why, when we are in the midst of doing amazing things, a small difficulty or obstacle will often appear, leaving us frustrated and disillusioned.Join Ashish and Anil for this fascinating discussion.What You’ll Learn in this Show:Why the first practice is simply being aware.The power of a gratitude journal.The importance of having an attitude of gratitude.Ashish’s practice of upgrading our brains and developing a positivity bias vs. a negativity bias.And so much more...Resources:Happiness Squad WebsiteMyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBooks:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

We all encounter mental roadblocks and negative thoughts that can leave us feeling frustrated, struggling with self-doubt and imposter syndrome, lacking self-love and self-worth. What if we told you there is a method that can help you overcome these challenges, remove mental and emotional roadblocks, heal from trauma, and achieve the personal and professional results that you want in a fast, painless, and sustainable way?In this new episode of the Happiness Squad podcast, Ashish and Anil are joined by Stephanie Kwong, a subconscious rewiring coach, hypnotherapist, breathwork facilitator and host of the Rise Higher Podcast. Stephanie is the co-founder of a set of groundbreaking, radically effective psycho-emotional and spiritual processes that can guarantee rapid integrative healing, change and transformation. She helps her clients identify and remove mental and emotional roadblocks and shows them a path to achieving the personal, professional and financial results that they want. In this episode, Stephanie will talk about her background and how she discovered this method, will reveal how you can convert an obstacle or a trauma into a gift and how the tools of the Rapid Rewire method can help people heal. Listen now to learn how you can overcome trauma, remove mental and emotional roadblocks and start living a happier life as the best version of yourself! What You’ll Learn in this Show:A little bit about Stephanie’s story and how she discovered the Rapid Rewire methodWhat it’s like to experience deep grief after a loss and how the Rapid Rewire method helped Stephanie overcome griefStephanie’s experience with people who are reluctant to this methodStephanie’s thoughts on how the tools of the Rapid Rewire method can help people overcome traumaAnd so much more...Resources:Happinesssquad.com @MyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBook:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

On today's episode of the The Happiness Squad, Ashish and Anil sit down with Ann Kowal Smith, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Reflection Point, a training and coaching firm that Professional Training and Coaching that uses shared stories and deep dialogue to help teams and organizations become more inclusive, innovative and collaborative. They discussPrior to founding Reflection Point, Ann served as project manager for EducationWorks, a philanthropically-supported learning initiative. She has also served as Principal with Heidrick & Struggles International and as an expert with McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining McKinsey, Ann practiced corporate and securities law in private practice with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP and Benesch LLP and in corporate practice with KeyCorp, where she served as Vice President and Senior Counsel. She is a Research Fellow at EPS@Weatherhead, a practitioner-scholar research community at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). She has also served as Adjunct Professor and Director of Praxis in Weatherhead’s Doctor of Management (D.M.) Program. Ann serves as an Advisory Board Member at CWRU’s Baker Nord Center for the Humanities and a Fellow at the Center for Evidence-Based Management..They discuss the use of short stories to strengthen skills such as listening with humility, asking great questions, challenging assumptions, disagreeing with respect, and widening the circle of empathy.During the episode, Ann explains what happiness means to her, and the importance of looking at happiness at the micro level - the small details in our lives that really bring happiness.She offers some thoughts on her passion for the Humanities and why she believes it's really the study of the human conversation.Ann also explains how Reflection Point uses stories to engage people in conversation, as well as the reasons why stories have become part of the common language of teams.Join Ashish, Anil and Ann for this fascinating discussion.What You’ll Learn in this Show:How short stories can help build bridges, flip perspectives and deepen shared understanding within an organization.The inspiration behind Reflection Point and what drove Ann to make the pivot necessary to bring it to life.Why learning requires that you ask the right kinds of questions.Why Reflection Point is NOT a 'book club.'And so much more...Resources:Reflection PointHappiness Squad WebsiteMyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBooks:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

What happens to us in our first years of life will impact every decade that follows. Our bodies, brains, and personalities are shaped by our early experiences. That is why childhood trauma can have lasting effects on our mental and physical health, it can truly make or break us. Our coding is our makeup, and it stays with us as we grow.But what if we told you that you have the power to re-code your own programming? As our guest today, shares with us, you have the ability to design the life you deserve through tiny but mighty steps. Juni Felix is the founder of Mastermind Behavior Design, a best-selling author, an international broadcaster, a radio show host and a speaker. She offers simple but inspiring solutions that work to help people design strategies for successful soul care and sustainable well-being.In this episode, Juni shares some really deep trauma that she went through at an early age and how despite those challenges, she managed to emerge stronger, kinder and more playful. You will learn that repetition doesn’t create habits, but emotions do. They redesign lives in simple and fun micro practices through which you can be made new.Junie also shares advice from the bottom of her heart that she believes can help each of us unlock our own flourishing and shine.Listen now to discover how you can not only rewire but also recode yourself for happiness!What You’ll Learn in this Show:What is happiness for Juni and what are the things that make her happyA little bit about Juni’s origin story and some key pivotal moments that changed her lifeWhat are the things that helped Juni find the strength and then channel that strength to heal and support othersYou are Worth the Work - Moving forward from Trauma to FaithBest practices on how people can build good and healthy habits through tiny but mighty stepsAnd so much more...Resources:Junifelix.com Mastermindbehaviordesign.com @juni_felix InstagramHappinesssquad.com @MyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBooks:You Are Worth the Work: Moving Forward from Trauma to FaithHardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life

Why do so many of us chase success and financial wealth at the cost of our own well-being? We understate the critical link well-being plays in sustainable achievement & success. Our guest today will talk about the importance of investing in our health and wellness to achieve high performance.Annastiina Hintsa is the CEO of Hintsa Performance, the world’s leading well-being company, helping top athletes and business professionals achieve sustainable success.During her career, Annastiina has closely observed and experienced the challenges relating to sustainable performance in an uncertain, high-pressure, fast-paced global context. When she experienced burnout working in top management consulting, she was faced with profound questions of meaning and balance. Later on, she joined Hintsa Performance as an entrepreneur, guiding people towards a life of meaning and sustainable high performance. From Formula 1 drivers to female entrepreneurs in rural Guatemala to top CEOs, to leading politicians, she has worked with a wide variety of clients.In this episode, Annastiina will talk us through the Hintsa method, and the importance of knowing your true identity, knowing your “why” and not compromising on your well-being no matter who you are. She will explain why better lives lead to better performance and will share some effective tips that will help you change your day,  so you start strong and end stronger.Enjoy another meaningful conversation that will give you the tools to unlock happiness and well-being in your life! What You’ll Learn in this Show:What happiness mean for Annastiina and what brings her true happinessA little bit about Stiina’s background story and her professional journeyAbout Anastiina’s awakening call and how she decided she needs to change her lifeWhat does Stiina’s routine looks like and how she invests in her well-being throughout the dayThe importance of setting healthy boundaries and taking care of yourself The foundations of the Hintsa approach and how it can create transformation in people’s livesAnd so much more...Resources:https://www.Hintsa.com Happinesssquad.com@MyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBook:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best LifeThe Core. Better Life, Better Performance

In a world where people spend more time at work than anywhere else, the workplace plays a central role in many people’s lives. Therefore, a culture based on the well-being of the employees, where people feel connected and supported by peers, subordinates, and leaders is critical to increasing an organization's effectiveness.Our guest today uses games developed and designed by her as tools to identify, understand and practice character strengths at the workplace, at home and beyond.Naomi Redel is a gamification strategist who's helping coaching and consulting companies to harness collaborative emotional intelligence to increase their impact within clients' organizations by designing and implementing gamified interactive systems. Serving in a variety of marketing management and business consulting positions, over the past 25 years, Naomi became acutely aware of the critical importance of maintaining a positive atmosphere as a key to accomplishing goals successfully. So, she decided to focus her efforts on the area of Positive Psychology and the inclusion of Positive Psychology theories and gamification into the world of business, society and education. In today’s episode, Naomi will explore the value of collective emotional intelligence, how we can enable it both as an individual or as a team, and how gamification can unlock so many benefits for all of us.Listen now to learn about another way to make the practice of happiness easy and accessible anywhere and anytime!What You’ll Learn in this Show: What brings true happiness in Naomi’s life. An effective way to promote positive emotion immediately.A little bit about Naomi’s background and how she discovered positive psychology.The secret to creating a life filled with positivity, joy and kindness.What is gamification and how Naomi brings gaming into the corporate world to help people thrive.Why it is difficult for most people to connect with the positive and how to make it easierAnd so much more...Resources:Positiveturngame.com Positive Turn Collaborative - Emotional IntelligenceHappinesssquad.com @MyHappinessSquad InstagramAshish Kothari LinkedInAnil Ramjiani LinkedInHappiness Squad Youtube ChannelBook:Hardwired for Happiness: 9 Proven Practices to Overcome Stress and Live Your Best Life