This post from LinkedIn Influencer Travis Bradberry originally appeared on LinkedIn.Happiness comes in so many different forms that it can be hard to define.Unhappiness, on the other hand, is easy to identify; you know it when you see it, and you definitely know when its taken hold of you.Unhappiness is lethal to everyone around you, like secondhand smoke.The famous "Terman Study" from Stanford followed subjects for eight decades and found that being around unhappy people is linked to poorer health and a shorter life span.Happiness has much less to do with life circumstances than you might think.A University of Illinois study found that people who earn the most (more than $10 million annually) are only a smidge happier than the average Joes and Janes who work for them.Life circumstances have little to do with happiness because much happiness is under your controlthe product of your habits and your outlook on life.Psychologists from the University of California who study happiness found that genetics and life circumstances only account for about 50% of a persons happiness. The rest is up to you."The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." Benjamin FranklinUnhappy habitsWhen people are unhappy, its much more difficult to be around them, let alone work with them. Unhappiness drives people away, creating a vicious cycle that holds you back from achieving everything that youre capable of.Unhappiness can catch you by surprise. So much of your happiness is determined by your habits (in thought and deed) that you have to monitor them closely to make certain that they dont drag you down into the abyss.Some habits lead to unhappiness more than others do. You should be especially wary of the 10habits that follow as they are the worst offenders. Watch yourself carefully to make certain that these habits are not your own.1. Waiting for the futureTelling yourself Ill be happy when is one of the easiest unhappy habits to fall into. How you end the statement doesnt really matter (it might be a promotion, more pay, or a new relationship) because it puts too much emphasis on circumstances, and improved circumstances dont lead to happiness.Dont spend your time waiting for something thats proved to have no effect on your mood. Instead, focus on being happy right now, in the present moment, because theres no guarantee of the future.2. Spending too much time and effort acquiring "things"People living in extreme poverty experience a significant increase in happiness when their financial circumstances improve, but it drops off quickly above $20,000 in annual income. Theres an ocean of research that shows that material things dont make you happy.When you make a habit of chasing things, you are likely to become unhappy because, beyond the disappointment you experience once you get them, you discover that youve gained them at the expense of the real things that can make you happy, such as friends, family, and hobbies.3. Staying homeWhen you feel unhappy, its tempting to avoid other people. This is a huge mistake as socializing, even when you dont enjoy it, is great for your mood.We all have those days when we just want to pull the covers over our heads and refuse to talk to anybody, but understand that the moment this becomes a tendency, it destroys your mood. Recognize when unhappiness is making you antisocial, force yourself to get out there and mingle, and youll notice the difference right away.4. Seeing yourself as a victimUnhappy people tend to operate from the default position that life is both hard and out of their control. In other words, "Life is out to get me, and there's nothing I can do about it." The problem with that philosophy is that it fosters a feeling of helplessness, and people who feel helpless arent likely to take action to make things better.While everyone is certainly entitled to feel down every once in a while, its important to recognize when youre letting this affect your outlook on life. Youre not the only person that bad things happen to, and you do have control over your future as long as youre willing to take action.5. PessimismNothing fuels unhappiness quite like pessimism. The problem with a pessimistic attitude, beyond it being hard on your mood, is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: If you expect bad things, youre more likely to get bad things.Pessimistic thoughts are hard to shake off until you recognize how illogical they are. Force yourself to look at the facts, and youll see that things are not nearly as bad as they seem.6. ComplainingComplaining itself is troubling as well as the attitude that precedes it. Complaining is a self-reinforcing behavior. By constantly talkingand therefore thinkingabout how bad things are, you reaffirm your negative beliefs.While talking about what bothers you can help you feel better, theres a fine line between complaining being therapeutic and it fueling unhappiness. Beyond making you unhappy, complaining drives other people away.7. Blowing things out of proportionBad things happen to everybody. The difference is that happy people see them for what they area temporary bummerwhereas unhappy people see anything negative as further evidence that life is out to get them.A happy person is upset if they have a fender bender on the way to work, but they keep things in perspective: "What a hassle, but at least it wasnt more serious." An unhappy person, on the other hand, uses it as proof that the day, the week, the month, maybe even their whole life, is doomed.8. Sweeping problems under the rugHappy people are accountable for their actions. When they make a mistake, they own it. Unhappy people, on the other hand, find problems and mistakes to be threatening, so they try to hide them. Problems tend to get bigger when theyre ignored.The more you dont do anything about a problem, the more it starts to feel as though you cant do anything about it, and then youre right back to feeling like a victim.9. Not improvingBecause unhappy people are pessimists and feel a lack of control over their lives, they tend to sit back and wait for life to happen to them.Instead of setting goals, learning, and improving themselves, they just keep plodding along, and then they wonder why things never change.10. Trying to keep up with the JonesesJealousy and envy are incompatible with happiness, so if youre constantly comparing yourself with others, its time to stop.In one study, most subjects said that theyd be OKwith making less money, but only if everybody else did too. Be wary of this kind of thinking as it wont make you happy and, more often than not, has the opposite effect.Bringing it all togetherChanging your habits in the name of greater happiness is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. But its also important for another reasontaking control of your happiness makes everyone around you happier too.Travis Bradberry is the award-winning coauthor of the No. 1 best-selling book "Emotional Intelligence 2.0" and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, TIME, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.More from Travis Bradberry:Stress Literally Shrinks Your Brain (How To Reverse The Damage)Why We Struggle To Communication (And How To Fix It)Why the Best Leaders Have ConvictionSEE ALSO:Here's how much work your brain can handle before needing a breakJoin the conversation about this story
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