The Dragonfly Effect - INK Conference

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A perfect match for Sameer

And a near perfect match for Vinay

Designing for collaboration

Enable others to contribute. Allow others to self-enroll and choose their own weapon.The ability to get others to take up the cause as if it were their own.

The dragonfly effect is the idea that small acts can create big change.

When meaning is at the core…

... And all four wings are beating in concert.

And just thinking of that makes me happy.

A reasonable question is - why did this make me so happy? The core of this book is sad, indeed tragic. Why would I feel happy?

Let me put forward three hypotheses about my happiness.

When the reason is fundamentally meaningful, it buffers you through the hard times and makes the good times that much more enjoyableThe first is that, instead of the normal joy, I felt a different type of happiness. In fact, there are two types of happiness that exist. However, people assume there is only one. Research that I have done with my colleagues, Cassie Mogilner and Sep Kamvar, show the meaning of these two happiness types (http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/aaker/pages/research.html)When we ask people what defines happiness for them, two discrete responses result.

Equally interesting is that you can switch which type of happiness you are experiencing at any given moment. In one study, we asked subjects to breath normally, and another set of subjects to breath deeply, focused on the present.After 6 minutes, we asked the two groups of subjects to define happiness. The control group of subjects, breathing normally, felt happiness was excitement. The deep breathing group of subjects felt happiness was about peacefulness.

And perhaps even more interestingly, the breathing exercise altered the choices they eventually made.We gave the two groups of subjects a choice of teas. They could either pick a refreshing energizing peppermint tea, or a relaxing, calming chamomile tea. Subjects in the first group picked the calming tea.Subjects in the second group picked the energizing tea.CONTROL:energized and excited (63%)peaceful and calm (37%) DEEP BREATHING:energized and excited (27%)peaceful and calm (73%)TWO CONDITIONSNormal DeepBreathing BreathingRESULTING CHOICERefreshing, Peaceful,Invigorating SoothingTeaTeaStudents given breathing exercise that increased focus on the present moment were then presented with a choice between calming or energizing teas.CONTROL:energized and excited (63%)peaceful and calm (37%) DEEP BREATHING:energized and excited (27%)peaceful and calm (73%)TWO CONDITIONSNormal DeepBreathing BreathingRESULTING CHOICERefreshing, Peaceful,Invigorating SoothingTeaTea

The Dragonfly Effect - INK Conference

Andy Smith