Are you seeing lots these days about Positive Psychology? It’s a bit of a buzz, and we are not immune to buzzes! It’s somewhat about the entire wellness approach to getting a balanced life.
In true Skirt Strategy fashion, we share with you a brief look into it. (It’s a mini skirt!)
Some definition … Positive Psychology is primarily concerned with using the psychological theory, research and intervention techniques to understand the positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects of human behavior.*
Nice textbook definition. Now, come down from your erudite platform of learnedness … and let’s just discuss how it applies to us.
As we share in the video, there are proven mental postures that endorse happiness. Some happiness habits include exercise, meditation, and practicing gratitude. If you’re an optimist, you’ll glop onto these with no problem. If you’re a pessimist, all the more reason to take it in. And don’t feel like being selfish keeps you out of the mix.
Included in the video is a description of the “broadening effect,” a physiological result of being more open-minded … and it works.
We think this whole approach is an invitation to a better work-life balance!
More in the video!
At Skirt Strategies we focus on a different leadership goal each month, providing a training tip via video and weekly training assignments for subscribed members.
Video Transcript
Katie: Welcome to Skirt Strategies. It’s another tip for you ladies in leadership.
Carol: And this month’s tip is well being, positive psychology and mental toughness.
Katie: Here at Skirt Strategies, we’re dedicated to giving you women in the workplace some real specific skills and mindset for being a better women leader.
So “positive psychology” is a big term nowadays.
Carol: It is and it’s not just a big term but I think I’ve said this before, but I think it’s very interesting that positive psychology is something we have not been studying for a long time. We’ve always studied the negative in psychology and what’s wrong with people. Now we’ve started studying what’s right with people and that’s where positive psychology comes from.
Katie: Here’s the definition of positive psychology:
It is primarily concerned with using the psychological theory, research and intervention techniques to understand the positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects of human behavior. I should have a Ph.D.
Carol: You should, because you can read. Did you make that up?
Katie: No it came from my husband, who is a Ph.D. in psychology.
Carol: Oh well, there you go.
Katie: But it’s becoming so mainstream in the business world now for a good reason. In fact I do some training and I’ve done a little bit around well being in the workplace and wellness in the workplace more likely and how positive psychology is adding to it.
Carol: Plays into that, yes.
Katie: Well there are benefits. You get fewer people gone for sick days. You get people that are more creative. You get less conflict. You get less burnout. You get people not quitting as often, all these benefits.
Carol: So it’s all good.
Katie: Why wouldn’t you want to do it? But how is it apply to you? I’m going to ask you a question first.
Carol: Okay.
Katie: What comes first success or happiness?
Carol: Oh goodness. We all strive for success so that we can be happy, right?
Katie: Yes isn’t that what you are told as you are growing up?
Carol: Yes that is right but that is not true.
Katie: “I want you to be successful so that you’ll be happy.”
Carol: That’s right and because we’re always striving for that next goal, we invite unhappiness don’t we?
Katie: Well ends up happening is we focus too much on the success. We don’t take care of ourselves and we become unhappy.
A lot of research has shown us that the most successful people were happy first and that’s what led them to success. So those of you out there, who go, “I want to be successful. I want to hit the big time.” You want to do whatever it is you want to do in your own little world. To be successful, focus first on the positive psychology and the happiness. That’s what this month’s video tip is going to be to help you with.
First of all, understand what it means. That’s tip number one. Understand what positive psychology means to you. It mean it the well being. It means the happiness posture.
Carol: So you can create this well being through positive psychology, through the things they’ve studied in other people. Having an open mind, broad mindedness brings in happiness.
Katie: Which is our second tip, thanks for the transition.
Carol: Broadening, open mindedness, brings in happiness there are you are successful.
Katie: It actually goes to a physical mindset in your brain. I sound like I’m in neuroscientist but I’m not.
Carol: That’s right but you are sleeping with one so –
Katie: Well I don’t know if he’s a neuroscientist but, he’s a psychologist.
Broadening is a term that’s used for having an open mind and at the physiological, at the microcosmic level, it is your neuronal network – your neurons actually being receptive and working better which think about what’s happening in those little pathways in your brain, an area where we don’t know a lot about is our brain. We do know, we are learning so much just now in modern day times, the way our brains work.
As leaders when you are more open minded, you are more likely to be able to solve complex problems. You can think more creatively. You can take complex problems and be able to bring them down to a level where you can work on them.
Carol: A creative level.
Katie: Yes. One thing I say about broadening – that’s called the broadening effect, one way for me to understand best what the broadening effect is to talk about what the opposite is, which is close mindedness. When you are close minded, and people that are chronically close minded, they never opt in for a creative solution. At their brain level they are actually closing the pathways to being open to think about things. So I think that makes sense.
So the broadening effect, if you were to walk away and say,” What is one thing I want to do about positive psychology?” That would be one area that could lead you to more happiness and more well being is you have this open mindedness around what possibilities are.
And then the third tip that we are going to leave everybody with is very tactical, your happiness habits.
Carol: What are they?
Katie: What do you do for happiness? Well what are some happiness habits? You have a great one that you do regularly and you are very good at it.
Carol: My husband and I actually have read many of the books on positive psychology and one of the things we do is gratitudes every night, we each have at least three gratitudes that we say out loud to each other and it’s made our lives happier, just by being grateful for the things that are in your life.
Katie: When you acknowledge outwardly, you are more likely to embrace it, and know that you are living in it because kind of in our civilization we tend to focus on crap that’s gone wrong.
Carol: Oh the negative. The other happiness habit that we have is we do not watch the news. Talk about negativity, there is nothing good on the news. They may have one happy story but it’s buried amongst the negativity and we just don’t do it anymore.
Katie: Yeah the national news is a little bit easier to listen to but the local business news, if it’s a business newspaper, that tends to be better.
Carol: Oh I’ll read some stuff but I am very picky about what I read and I will not watch TV news.
Katie: So happiness habits could be spending time with your kids or your family or whatever family that you have, being around children, listening to music, getting exercise, knowing how to breathe, knowing how to walk away from a stressful situation or even a regular mundane situation, knowing how to get up, walk away, come back in 30 minutes. What are some of the things that you do that take care of self? Those are happiness habits.
And so just thinking in a positive way like Girl Scout cookies or something. Chocolate.
So that’s our tip this month on the hot flash video for women in leadership. We do encourage any of you, if you would like to be more regular followers. We do have monthly subscribers that for a cheap, cheap $8 a month, they get held accountable. They get a Monday Morning Detox we call it and it’s a regular small assignment because we’re all about tiny trainings and big results.
So if you want to get one of those little tiny trainings in your inbox every Monday for a cheap $8 a month, we’re pleased to do that. We focus on a different topic each month.
Go to SkirtStrategies.com/membership if you would like to know more. Thanks for being with us.
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