In the previous post we looked at 3 of Shawn Achors’s 7 principles of positive psychology that may help us perform better and become more successful. For each one we gave an action point that to bring the principle to life.
In this post we share the last 4 along with our action points for making this real:
- Find A Way Out – Life happens. Sometimes negative things will happen or failure happens. What matters is how we respond. A wise person once said “failure is an event not the definition of a person”. You must find a way out of the situation and move forward. The only way to deal with a negative event or failure is to confront it and deal with it.
ACTION: “Falling up” is a strategy to get yourself up when things go wrong. Find a path that not only takes you out of the challenge, but makes you stronger.
- Zero In – Some people love a challenge, others don’t. What is important is that we know what our capacity is. When life becomes chaotic or challenging the tendency for many people is that they become flustered, confused and likely to act irrationally.
ACTION: Focus on smaller goals or targets that you can manage and gradually increase your capacity as you get comfortable.
- The 20 Second Rule – Deciding to become a happier person requires you to commit to seeing and doing things differently but that in itself presents a challenge – the willpower to commit! When given a choice we are more likely to choose activities that are comfortable over those that challenge or stretch us. This is because good habits take effort and that’s where the problem lies. We often focus on the effort required to complete a task and immediately become overwhelmed by it. Achor offers a cracking solution which is to focus only on the initial action to start the activity and make it really easy to do. Achor states that – “In physics, activation energy is the initial spark needed to catalyse a reaction. The same energy, both physical and mental, is needed of people to overcome inertia and kick-start a positive habit.” For example if you have committed to eating healthily and you find that you don’t because you have to clean and peel fresh vegetables after a long day at work then you may want to opt for frozen or prepared vegetables which takes little or no time (20 seconds) to get out of the fridge and start cooking. That way you eliminate the challenge of preparation! The opposite is also true for eliminating bad habits. Make it hard enough to access the habit and your brain naturally drops the habit.
ACTION: Decrease the activation energy you need to do positive habits and increase it for negative habits.
- Social Investment – Networks are valuable. The value of social capital is an indication of the size and health of your social network. Your social network are the people and relationships you rely on and are often key in helping you navigate challenging times and situations.
ACTION: Invest in relationships that increase your social capital.
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