I just plowed through my latest positive psychology [1] book, The Happiness Advantage (2010) by Shawn Achor. Early in the book, Achor uses lawyers and law students as the poster children for people who can benefit from a good dose of positive psychology. He cites a 2009 article ("Stemming the Tide of Law Student Depression: What Law Schools Need To Learn from the Science of Positive Psychology") by Todd David Peterson and Elizabeth Waters Peterson for the appalling statistic that lawyers are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from a major depressive disorder than the rest of the employed population, putting them (us) at the "unenviable zenith of depressed professionals." The original article includes more eye-opening numbers, such as that 20% to 35% of lawyers are "clinically distressed," as opposed to only 2% of the general population, and that an astounding 70% or lawyers are likely to develop alcohol-related problems over the course of their (our) lifetimes, compared to just 13.7% of the general population. And the problems start in law school, with 44% of law students meeting the criteria for clinically significant levels of psychological distress. "Law students also report significantly higher levels of alcohol and drug use than college and high school graduates of the same age, and their alcohol use increases between their second and third year of law school." These problems are not generalizable to other overworked graduate students, as law students have significantly higher levels of stress, stress symptoms, and alcohol abuse than even medical students. No wonder Achor, who worked at Harvard for years, reports that several Harvard Law School students told him that they often studied at the Education School library because "just being in the same room with other law students, even if no one said a word, spread negative stress like secondhand smoke."
So what to do about this smoking cauldron of stress? Achor synthesized the positive psychology research into seven principles you can apply to help live a happier life. The first is capitalizing on the happiness advantage through a number of scientifically proven ways to improve your mood throughout the day. I've written about some of these before, including getting regular exercise, spending time outside on a nice day, or even just belting out a song you like. His other suggestions include meditating (even for just five minutes a day), watching less TV (especially the news if it bums you out), and picking one day a week to commit five conscious acts of kindness. He also suggests figuring out what your five "signature strengths" are by taking the VIA Character Strengths Survey and then incorporating at least one of them into your life each day. [2] If you want some suggestions on how to do that, check out this list of "340 Ways to Use VIA Character Strengths."
Mom will love the second principle, which Achor calls the fulcrum and the lever. It essentially boils down to having a growth mindset—believing that you can enhance your basic qualities, such as intelligence or artistic or athletic ability, through conscious effort—rather than a fixed mindset—believing that your capabilities are set in stone.
I love the third principle, which Achor calls the tetris effect and involves training your brain to scan for and focus on positive things instead of always looking for negatives. [3] One simple, proven exercise for doing that is spending five minutes a day writing down three good things that happened in the last 24 hours in your life, your relationships, your job, whatever. Or you can talk about the three good things at family dinner with your loved ones. Sound familiar? Mom is going to get a swelled head reading this episode preaching about growth mindset and the tetris effect. I will say, though, that I like the three-good-things exercise more than asking what the best part of everyone's day was because you think through your whole day looking for even small things that brought you a moment of joy, instead of trying to figure out what the one "best" thing was. I think this better accomplishes the goal of getting you in the habit of looking for the positives all day long.
And speaking of habits, the sixth principle is what Achor refers to as the 20-second rule. The idea is to take the ways you capitalize on the happiness advantage (principle #1)—such as exercise, meditation, the nature cure—and turn them into habits by cutting down on the "activation energy," that is, the time, choices, and mental and physical effort required to do them every day. For example, if you want to start exercising in the morning because you're always too tired after work or school, get all your gear out the night before and have it laid out and ready to go when you wake up.
I won't go through them all, but I'll end with principle #5, which Achor calls the Zorro circle. He explains that "[w]hen our stresses and workloads seem to mount faster than our ability to keep up, we can deal with the perceived loss of control by first concentrating our efforts on small manageable goals, so we regain the feeling of control crucial to performance." Once you feel good about completing the first small challenge, then you can slowly expand the circle outward to tackle bigger tasks. If this sounds familiar, that's because it's related to the concept of kaizen, or “continuous improvement” in small increments, that I've written about before. Achor got the name from Zorro's training circle in The Mask of Zorro:
Adapted from EveryDayCook (2016) by Alton Brown and Good Eats: Reloaded (video)
Time: ＜10 minutes
The mayo seems to make for creamier scrambled eggs than eggs + dairy, as in my original recipe, like most others; you won't taste the mayo in the finished product. I like the warm spiciness the harissa paste brings to the dish. What I don't like is AB's instruction to preheat a carbon steel pan in a 350-degree oven for 30+ minutes when making scrambled eggs. I have zero interest in turning scrambled eggs into a major time sink.
½ teaspoon neutral-flavored oil, such as sunflower or canola
3 large eggs (~57 grams each in the shell)
1 teaspoon (5 grams) water
1 teaspoon (5 grams) mayonnaise
1 teaspoon (5 grams) harissa paste, or to taste
⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 teaspoon (5 grams) unsalted butter
toast points, for serving
1. Heat the oil in an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. (Put your bread in the toaster now.) Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a medium bowl. Add the water, mayo, harissa, and salt, and whisk everything together until combined and uniform in color.
2. Increase the heat to medium or a notch higher. Add the butter and swirl to coat the pan. When the butter has stopped foaming, pour in the egg mixture. Wait 10 seconds, then push the eggs around the pan a few times with a silicone spatula. Wait 10 seconds, then repeat. Wait 10 seconds, then repeat but this time making sure any still-liquid egg makes contact with the surface of the pan. Wait 5 seconds, then transfer the eggs to a plate or plates and serve immediately with toast. Remember the first rule of cooking scrambled eggs: If they look cooked in the pan, they will be overcooked on the plate. Serves 1 or 2.
Inspired by listening to Episode 7 of the Home Cooking podcast with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway
Time: 13 minutes
1 tablespoon olive oil or neutral-flavored oil such as sunflower
¼ of a medium white onion (~30 grams), minced (~¼ cup); you can substitute 1 medium shallot
1 small jalapeño, minced (ribs and seeds removed for less heat)
1 medium (~125 grams) ripe tomato, cored, some of the seeds and gel removed, and finely diced
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 large eggs (~57 grams each in the shell), lightly beaten until homogenous in color
1. Heat the oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and jalapeño and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened but not browned, about 5 minutes (less if you’re using shallot).
3. Add the tomato and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Pour the beaten eggs evenly over the veggies. Let the eggs set for about 30 seconds, then, using a silicone spatula, scrape the bottom and sides of the pan to form large curds. After the large curds form, cook, folding gently, just until the eggs look mostly cooked through but are still glossy and slightly wet. Immediately transfer the eggs to two plates to stop the cooking process. (Remember: If they look cooked in the pan, they will be overcooked on the plate.) Taste for seasoning. Serve immediately. Serves 2.
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