There's optimism and then there's irrational optimism.

That's what happiness researcher Shawn Achor says. He's spent years studying the topic, and in a recent talk for OWN's "SuperSoul Sessions" speaker series, Achor shared a story about what it means to be irrationally optimistic. It happened when he found himself alone in a car with the CEO of a software company, in California.

Achor had just given another one of his research-based talks to several CEOs, and when it came time for him to head to the airport, an executive offered to give Achor a ride.

"One of the CEOs offered to drive me to the airport to talk about how he could cascade this research out to his entire company, using these e-courses and digital interventions," Achor recalls. "I was so excited."