Tom Rath

“Having fewer unhealthy days and, in turn, more days when you have the energy to get things done is probably the global constant through which businesses and individuals can think about the quantifiable upside of increasing wellbeing.”

“Instead of celebrating what makes each child unique, most parents push their children to "fit in" so that they don't "stick out." This unwittingly stomps out individuality and encourages conformity, despite these parents' good intentions”

“I'm a researcher, so I'm realistic that there's nothing I'm doing that's going to prevent me from getting cancer in the future. But I can slow it down.”

“Team members care about one another, listen, share secrets, talk about the latest news, have heated arguments, are sometimes jealous of each other, and even cry together.”

“The reality is that a person who has always struggled with numbers is unlikely to be a great accountant or statistician.”

“I've seen the same thing emerge in the research around the interaction of sleeping and moving and eating: if you get a good night's sleep, you are significantly more likely to make the right choices about what you eat the next morning, you're more likely to work out, you're more likely to get a better night's sleep the next night.”

“On average, spending time with your boss is consistently rated as the least pleasurable activity in a given day.”

“Don't worry about breaks every 20 minutes ruining your focus on a task. Contrary to what I might have guessed, taking regular breaks from mental tasks actually improves your creativity and productivity. Skipping breaks, on the other hand, leads to stress and fatigue.”

“The right choices over time greatly improve your odds of a long and healthy life.”

“When we asked people if they would rather have a best friend at work or a 10% pay raise, having a friend clearly won.”

“Even though people spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else, people underestimate how work influences their overall wellbeing and daily experience.”

“You need a lot of effort and talent to produce greatness.”

“No matter how healthy you are today, you can take specific actions to have more energy and live longer.”

“When you ask people what affects their wellbeing most, they think of health and wealth.”

“While the things that motivate us differ greatly from one person to the next, the outcomes do not.”

“At a very basic level, people need to know that there is constancy in their jobs and, more broadly, in where the organization is headed.”

“Clearly, there aren't enough positive moments or interactions happening in the workplace. As a result, our economy suffers, companies suffer, and individual relationships suffer.”

“I always thought there were some people who were just destined to be disengaged in their jobs because that was their personality, and no matter how hard managers tried, there wasn't much they could do with some of those people.”

“For wellbeing to take hold, it's got to be something that individual team members are getting excited about in their own lives. It can't be something that a company is forcing top-down through hierarchical structures.”

“followers have a very clear picture of what they want and need from the most influential leaders in their lives: trust, compassion, stability, and hope”