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For years, I pursued success the way many ambitious professionals do—through relentless…
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Ashish Kothari shared thisYour mind doesn't break you in big moments. It hesitates in small ones. That invisible friction right before you perform, speak, lead, or decide? That's not weakness. That's your nervous system protecting you from a threat that isn't there. Carlos Alcaraz said something recently that most high performers won't say out loud: "I'd choose happiness over massive success because happiness is already success." That's not softness. That's mastery. Here's why it matters: When you chase success from fear, you grip. You overthink. You force. Your body tightens around the outcome. And tight bodies don't perform. Free ones do. But when happiness is your baseline, not the reward waiting on the other side of winning, something shifts. You stop performing for the result. You start performing from yourself. Three shifts that unlock this: → Name the state, don't become it. "I'm failing" becomes "my nervous system is activated." One is identity. One is information. → Shrink the target. Not "be brilliant." Just: what does great execution look like for the next 30 seconds? → Reconnect to meaning. Why does this matter beyond the outcome? Meaning calms the mind faster than motivation ever will. Because happiness isn't the opposite of ambition. It's what makes ambition sustainable. Remember the one thing that helps you get out of your own head before a high-stakes moment. Clip compilation credit: @maya.mental.fitness
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Ashish Kothari shared thisNobody talks about menopause at work. And this biological transition remains shrouded in silence, misconception, and stigma. The cost is real. Women not feeling at their best, navigating brain fog, disrupted sleep, and unpredictable energy often doing it alone. Nobody is talking about it. There’s no support around it. And there are no options to work with. I sat down with Kacy Fleming, M.A. of The Fuchsia Tent to change that. What she helped me see: This isn't just a women's health issue. It's a leadership issue. A culture issue. A retention issue. Our lack of awareness on this topic and our discomfort with these conversations, are making women suffer. We need to change this because everybody matters and everyone should have the opportunity to flourish at work. In this graphic you’ll see 10 practical ways to support women in your organization. On my latest Flourishing Edge podcast, Kacy shares her own journey through menopause. We discuss why menopause is such a dangerous myth that organizations are holding and why it's so important that they care. ♻️ Repost this to inspire leaders to speak up about menopause.
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Ashish Kothari shared thisMost productivity advice is lying to you. It tells you to do more. Faster. Earlier. Harder. But your brain doesn't work that way. Your attention is finite. Your energy runs in cycles. Your mind needs recovery, not just rest. The real lever isn't your calendar. It's your nervous system. I put together 15 principles to help you work with your brain instead of against it. One graphic. 60 seconds to scan. Worth saving for later.
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Ashish Kothari shared this10 micro-recoveries that change how you lead and power-up your day. You can't lead well on an empty tank. Most leaders I speak with are disciplined, driven, and deeply committed. They're also running on fumes. Not because they aren't trying. Because they've been filling their schedules while emptying themselves. Here's what the research actually tells us: → Recovery isn't the opposite of performance. It's the precondition for it. → Workers are interrupted ~42 times per hour. At that rate, flow, your most creative, productive state, is nearly impossible. → 70-80% of people say they don't have protected time to focus. The productivity loss? 10-20%. These aren't soft numbers. They're business numbers. The good news: micro-recovery doesn't require a policy change or a budget. It starts with small, intentional practices woven into the rhythm of your day. In my conversation with Jessica Grossmeier, we unpacked 10 of them, grounded in neuroscience and 30 years of workplace wellbeing research. Read the full article in my latest newsletter.
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Ashish Kothari shared thisHere's the flourishing paradox: The thing we think destroys us actually builds us. The leaders who flourish fastest don't avoid failure. They metabolize it. Not avoiding mistakes. Learning from them faster. Not protecting their image. Building their capacity. Not staying comfortable. Getting stronger. Most leaders see failure as the opposite of flourishing. The best ones see it as the foundation. They don't just survive setbacks. They transform because of them. Every failure becomes fuel. Every mistake becomes wisdom. Every setback becomes strength. The paradox isn't that failure leads to success. It's that avoiding failure guarantees you'll stay exactly where you are. The leaders who thrive don't have fewer failures. They just know how to turn them into flourishing. Graphic credit thanks to: Roberto Ferraro Ferraro
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Ashish Kothari shared thisThe moment you don’t feel like it? That’s the moment that counts. Michael Phelps once pointed to something most people miss: the best performers aren’t always the strongest— they’re the ones who can execute when they don’t want to. And that isn’t just sport. That’s leadership having the hard conversation. That’s parenting showing up with patience after a long day. That’s business doing the unsexy work before it pays. Most meaningful results are built in unglamorous moments: • showing up when motivation disappears • choosing discomfort over avoidance • doing the boring reps no one claps for • keeping your word when it’s easier not to The shift that changed my life: Stop negotiating with your feelings. Decide, then follow through. Because flourishing isn’t a mood. It’s a practice. If this hits, repost it for someone who needs it today.
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Ashish Kothari shared this10 research-based practices I wish I’d implemented 20 years ago to protect my wellbeing at work. Early in my career, I used to end many days completely drained. Not because the work lacked meaning. But because I never gave myself a moment to recover. Meeting after meeting. Task after task. No space between. No chance to reset. I thought exhaustion was simply the price of doing meaningful work. I was wrong. The science is clear: Our brains are not built for constant output. Without recovery, stress builds. Attention fragments. Energy drops. Over time, our creativity, relationships, and decision-making begin to suffer. What helps is not always a huge life change. Often, it’s small recovery practices built into the workday. On this graphic, here are 10 that changed everything for me. These practices, repeated consistently, can shift how we think, lead, collaborate, and feel at work. I recently spoke with Jessica Grossmeier, who has spent more than two decades researching workplace wellbeing, about the science behind micro-recoveries, flow, and how leaders can create the conditions for people to flourish. The conversation goes deep on why recovery isn't optional, it's foundational to performance. You can find it on the Flourishing Edge podcast.
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Ashish Kothari shared thisWhy do 10 compliments disappear, but 1 criticism stays? Because your brain is built to notice threat first. I used to think this meant I was insecure. Then I learned about negativity bias. Your brain evolved to remember what felt dangerous, painful, or uncertain. That helped you survive. But it also means you can overlook what’s good, even when it’s right in front of you. So if praise fades fast while criticism sticks, that doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It means your attention is doing what it was trained to do. The problem is that survival wiring doesn’t always serve modern life. One practice from Hardwiring Happiness helps retrain that attention: → The 30-Second Savor Once a day, when something good happens, even something small: 1️⃣ Pause 2️⃣ Name it: “This is good.” 3️⃣ Feel it in your body for 30 seconds 4️⃣ Let the moment register That’s not toxic positivity. It’s giving your brain more time to encode the good instead of rushing past it. You do not need a better life to feel more grounded. Sometimes you need to notice the life you already have. → If this resonates, share it.
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Ashish Kothari shared thisCome join me and 20+ experts and company leaders passionate about flourishing at work and creating win win workplaces on May 4,5 in chicago.Ashish Kothari shared thisFlourishing is not a soft idea. It is a strategic one. Ashish Kothari is the Founder and CEO of Happiness Squad, where he works to catalyze human flourishing at the individual, team, and organizational level. His approach blends research from psychology and neuroscience with practical leadership tools that help organizations build resilience, performance, and sustainable growth. Through nine secular practices rooted in wisdom traditions and backed by science, Ashish helps leaders rewire how they think, work, and lead so happiness becomes embedded in culture, not treated as an afterthought. A bestselling author of Hardwired for Happiness and a TEDx speaker, Ashish brings both depth and bold thinking to the Win-Win Workplace Summit Advisory Board. #WinWinWorkplaceBook #WinWinWorkplaceSummit
Ashish Kothari replied to a comment
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Katheline Jean-Pierre MSc Happiness as a foundation increases your odds of success.
Ashish Kothari replied to a comment
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Karen DeCesare Doll, Psy.D., L.P. Thanks my dear friend. Please help share this episode with others who could benefit
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