positivity and motivation

src:

• Positivity & Motivation: How They Impact Your Career & Life Pt 1/2
• Positivity & Motivation: How They Impact Your Career & Life Pt 2/2

Abstract

• positive psychology can help use understand how to thrive
• optimism can be trained
• but to train it, you need willpower
• willpower can also be trained

What is positive psychology?

• it’s about thriving.
• not Eudonism, where pleasure is the greater good.

Thriving at Work

Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it is the realization that we can.

Book: The Happiness Advantage: How a positive brain fuels success in work and life.

Individual

Performance & Capability
          ^
          | challenge    star
          | problem      team player
          +--------------------------> Attitude

Positive psychology can impact both Attitude and Performance/Capability.

Team

+---> Storming --> Norming --> Performing --+
|                                           |
+-------- Forming <------- Adjourning ------+

Positive psychology can help create high-functioning teams.

Dimensions of Positive Psychology

PERMA

• Positive emotion
• Engagement
• Relationships
• Meaning
• Accomplishments

Positive correlation with physical health, vitality, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and commitment within organizations.

Positive emotion

• happiness
• joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration,, awe and love
• Gratitude
  • strong correlation, maybe even causation, between gratitude and wellbeing
  • techniques
    • gratitude lists
    • behavioral expression of gratitude
• inducing positive emotions
  • techniques
    • exercise
    • meditate
    • use your strengths

Engagement

• deeper happiness
• being one with the music
• flow
  • losing track of time, being completely absorbed
  • techniques
    • use character strengths
    • do things you love
    • medicate
    • exercise
    • spend time in nature

Challenges
    ^
    |  anxiety    __/      __/
    |          __/      __/
    |       __/      __/
    |    __/      __/
    | __/ flow __/
    |/        /      boredom
    +-------------------------->

Relationships

• socializing
  • people are happiest when with other people
  • loneliness is a predictor of bad health and less effectiveness at work
• socializing at work
  • professional relationships should not be treated as completely different from relationships outside of work
  • work fiends are also friends

Meaning

• bigger picture - value, worth
• purpose in life
  • finding purpose is correlated with motivation
  • see the bigger picture: how does your work contribute to the whole?
• job crafting
  • job vs career vs calling
  • career/calling correlated with job satisfaction
  • techniques:
    • job crafting means (essentially) framing a job as a calling

Accomplishments

• mastery
  • the desire to grow skills
  • mastery correlates with motivation (see: Flow)
  • techniques
    • be just outside your comfort zone
    • break down problem
    • practice
• beware the hedonic treadmill
  • there is always more to accomplish
  • techniques
    • emphasize intrinsic growth, not external accomplishments

Willpower

This can also be learned! Willpower is like a muscle, it gets exhausted but it coo can be trained!

• Techniques
  • manage your environment
    • good sleep
    • environment that lets you focus
    • and yes, exercise, meditate, and eat a healthy diet
  • lower the ‘activation energy’ of a good habit
• put bad habits off for at least 10 minutes (“pause and plan”)
• forgive yourself (no “what the hell effect”)
  • willpower is “contagious”