Property Tribes: Book of the Month May 2015

How do you know when you are happy?

That’s a big question and one that the author addresses in this seminal work on the subject. Flow: The Psychology of Happiness: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness is his detailed and substantiated argument that we find happiness when we ‘lose ourselves’ in tasks that demand a degree of skill, but not so much that we are overwhelmed. The detail of the argument comes from his examination of what the flow state is, both physically and mentally, and what causes it.

You might well have heard of the concept of ‘flow’ before; many have referred to it since this book was first published well over 20 years ago. Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi is often quoted in self-help, positive psychology and coaching texts, but what, you might wonder, has this got to do with property?

In truth, if you are specifically looking for property how-to’s and know-how, then not an awful lot. However, if you’re interested in the human mind – especially your own – and how it works, there is a lot to learn here that might be important to your own property journey. The style is academic so it’s not the easiest read on the shelf but if you like a book to stimulate your mind, it’s worth a go.

There are other books with similar titles (also listed below) by the same author, but which I have not read so don’t know whether they are updated versions, or variations on the theme of the original.

 

And the audio version …

Other recommendations from Property Tribes …

Browse the Property Tribes Essential Reading List on Property Bookshop’s Amazon store.

Alternatively, have a look through the earlier books of the month on the PT Recommends page or in the store.