If you want to be happy, stop trying to be happy

Become a better communicator by delivering bad news in person and being concise in email, careful not to bad-mouth anyone or ask for a raise through that medium and being kind and direct with all feedback, write Melissa Harris and Jenn Bane, authors of "Everybody Needs an Editor: The Essential Guide to Clear and Effective Writing." They also recommend writing and memorizing a short elevator pitch about yourself and your skills that is intriguing enough to lead your listener to ask follow-up questions.

Put it into practice: If a team member is going on vacation, get all the details you can on anything that might come up while they're gone so you don't have to bother them while they're away, write Harris and Bane. If you're the one on vacation, resist reading work emails and leave instructions with a trusted colleague to contact you if you're truly needed, leaving it up to them to judge when that may be.

A Workhuman survey in the US, Ireland and UK suggests 38% of executives and 37% of managers fake productivity as they seek a better work-life balance, struggle with burnout and aim to appease others. "Managers especially are in the position to promote a workplace culture that allows employees to be human and say when they're struggling -- not turn to performative productivity," says Meisha-ann Martin, senior director of people analytics and research at Workhuman, which found 67% of non-managers deny faking productivity -- a practice known as "fauxductivity."

Weeks after publication of a study that redefines the origin of Stonehenge's altar stone from Wales to northern Scotland, favoring Orkney as the specific source, a separate study has shown the megalith does not match the mineral and chemical composition of stones and rock deposits on Orkney's islands. Excluding Orkney could quickly sharpen the search to other parts of the Orcadian basin, the source of the megalith's old red sandstone, says Richard Bevins, lead author of the paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science, who also worked on the previous study.

I know it's Monday, which is exactly why I led off today's newsletter with a story on how to be happy by not chasing happiness. I experience the Sunday blues just like many people who are sad to see the end of the the end of the weekend.

In reality, though, Monday is just like every other day. It invites us, just as Friday does, to be excited about the things happening in our lives. Who gets excited by those mind-numbing tasks that all of our jobs entail at some point? The person who is determined to find joy in anything, that's who.

Recently, I had an assignment to do that made my eyes roll. It felt like an impossible task, and I was irritated about it. Then, I saw a video on social media with a person talking about how he changed his attitude about something that many of us find awful -- flying, especially the part about being in airports, going through security and rushing for our flight.

He said that he reframed his situation. He was going to a conference where he was giving a presentation, and he loved his job, so he told himself, "I don't have to get on a plane to go to this conference. I get to get on a plane and go to this conference." That simple reframe made him grateful that he has the opportunity to fly around the country and speak on a topic that is near and dear to him.

I used the "have to-get to" reframe on this project, and it completely changed my approach. Now, it was like a game to find the material I needed to craft the project in a way that was not only interesting to others but to myself. It turned out to be fun, and as a by-product, I was happy. So were those who had given me the assignment.

What do you feel like you "have to" do today? What would happen if you turned it around and were grateful that it's something you "get to" do instead?

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