The Sweet Spot ─ How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work

Feel like you’re on a treadmill that won’t stop? Learn to step off and hit your stride.

Not long ago Christine Carter, happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, speaker, writer, and mother, found herself caught up in the busyness of modern life: too many conflicting obligations and not enough time, energy, or patience to get everything done. She tried all the standard techniques—prioritizing, multitasking, delegating—but found that she needed a new approach, one that would allow her to live more in that zone we’ve all glimpsed but can never seem to hold on to: the sweet spot of expertise, efficiency, and ease. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the latest psychological, neurological, and biological science related to happiness, productivity, and elite performance, Carter put herself through the practical paces. Her goal was not to live a stress-free life, but rather to build stress resilience and find a quicker path to calm and confidence.

Her trials and errors are our reward. In The Sweet Spot, Carter shares what she calls “the sweet spot equation,” a combination of strategies and practices for attaining happiness without giving up success, and for achieving success without compromising happiness. Using a simple formula, The Sweet Spot shows us how to

‧ take a brief recess, an inoculation against “The Overwhelm” and the key to converting stress into productive and creative energy
‧ institute daily micro-habits that free you up to focus on and enjoy more important things
‧ unplug from seemingly time-saving gadgets that can sap our strength, and use technology more strategically
‧ prioritize our relationships, making use of the hard science that points out how healthy connections help us thrive.
‧ cultivate tolerance for a little discomfort while we build mastery (the skills that make hard things feel easy) and develop the grit to bounce back from life’s inevitable setbacks

Complete with practical “easiest thing” tips for instant relief as well as stories from Carter’s own experience of putting The Sweet Spot into action, this timely and inspiring book lets us in on the possibilities for joy and freedom that comes when we stop trying to do everything right—and start doing the right things.

Christine Carter, Ph.D., is a sociologist and happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, an interdisciplinary research center that “translates” the study of happiness, resilience, and emotional intelligence for the public. The author of the bestselling Raising Happiness, Dr. Carter blogs regularly for Greater Good, The Huffington Post, and Psychology Today. She has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Dr. Oz Show, Rachael Ray, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Today, and NPR, and has helped thousands of people lead happier and more productive lives through her lectures and online classes. Her e-newsletters have more than fifty thousand subscribers. She lives with her husband, children, and stepchildren in Berkeley, California.