Episode
Chapter 162: Shawn Achor on becoming boundlessly buoyant by building better beliefs
- Podcast
- 3 Books With Neil Pasricha
- Published
- Jun 29, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4300
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Summary
Happy Strawberry Moon, everyone! As we ease into summer and the hydrangeas and garden roses begin blooming here in Toronto, I find myself struck by the awe and beauty that quietly surrounds us each day. There's so much science behind how we experience the world. My guest on this moon's chapter of 3 Books has spent his career proving just that. Join me in welcoming one of the world's leading experts on happiness and human potential, a Harvard-trained positive psychologist and researcher whose TED Talk has been watched over 30 million (!) times, and a genuinely warm human I am proud to call a friend ... Mr. Shawn Achor! (pronounced like "acorn" without the n, btw!) I first met Shawn in Abu Dhabi, years ago, when we were both invited to speak to the Royal Family of the United Arab Emirates. I arrived a few days early, for dress rehearsals, long dinners, and meet-and-greets with various extended family members, and then Shawn showed up. He flew in, crushed it onstage, dropped research studies like he'd memorized all of Google Scholar, and immediately flew out. I was left thinking: Who was that masked man? Well, over the years we became friends, and he was kind enough to blurb ' The Happiness Equation ' after selling a million copies of his own wonderful book, ' The Happiness Advantage ' . And then ... where did he go? Shawn just sort of ... disappeared. I found out why in his new book, ' The Power of Beliefs '. After his daughter Zoë was born three months early, spending 50 days in the NICU, Shawn decided to take a break—six years of no media, no international talks, no new books. Six years! But Shawn is still Shawn. An amiable son of an English teacher and a neuroscience professor, with multiple Harvard degrees, and a witty, research-centric writing style…