By Alyssa Holmes, Class of 2021
At NLC we had the pleasure if hearing Stacey Flowers speak and send us off on our final day at the conference. Stacey is an entrepreneur who has been named as the Next Global Leader for her generation by Munroe Global, had her own Tedx Talk, and is listed first on the top ten best female motivational speakers of the year. Stacey talked to us about the science to the POWER of happiness. She expressed to us there are five simple steps to happiness.
Step 1: Identify the top five people you need to have in your life to be happy. She told us to think about who your cheerleader is, who is your friend, who is your mentor, who is your rock and that over time these individuals can and will switch roles and that is ok, but you must have five people total.
Step 2: Determine the methods that help you turn obstacles into opportunity. This itself was something that really stuck out to me. Stacey said to take your problem and imagine that you have a child twenty years from now that has come to you with that same problem. What advice would you give them?
Step 3: Find your personal definition of happiness and write it down. Have a goal in mind and do not get discouraged if you do not reach the goal in the original timeframe.
Step 4: Have realistic “EXPECTATIONS.” So many times, expectations have left individuals feeling disappointed. Developing manageable expectations and verbalizing them is of the utmost importance to reaching true happiness.
Step 5: Reframe undesirable outcomes into a time for growth. Life comes at you fast, and it is not always be what you thought. The goal is to take these undesirable outcomes and grow from them to improve yourself over time. This way the next time an undesirable outcome happens you are more prepared to face that next obstacle.
Stacey had an excellent view of life and the simplicity of finding happiness. It is important to just look at yourself from an outside prospective and make approachable goals. Hearing her speak at NLC was my favorite moment and has made me more aware of my goals, my journey using the power of happiness and how I am going to live my best life.