Growing your strengths may be a new concept for many. Once you hear about it though it seems to make sense. It is a new and growing realm in the world of coaching called Positive Psychology. If you are into life or personal coaching you will enjoy my next book. It is called Positive Psychology Coaching: Putting the Science of Happiness to Work for Your Clients, by Robert Biswas-Diener and Ben Dean (2007).
It is more of a research and practical book on coaching and consulting through positive psychology, but for those out there that want to learn more about strategies to create happiness as well as coaching personal and social strengths, this is a book for you. If you do not want to buy the book let me give you some highlights to think about.
The main idea behind positive psychology is that it can answer the question of what is going right in a person’s life, rather than looking at only what is going wrong in someone’s life. Why look at the right vs. the wrong? Well think about it. If you always concentrate on what is wrong in your world, what happens? You get depressed, tired, frustrated, moody…all of those negative feelings come into play. In short, concentrating on what is going wrong eats away at your personal self-esteem!
So what happens if you change the question from what is going wrong to what is going right? What kind of mood and attitude do you bring to the table when you concentrate on what is going right? You have a good job, you have positive relationships with your partner and friends, you live each day to the fullest, you look for continuous learning, you like where you live, you work out, and you are good at ‘x’. Now what happens to your attitude? Even reading the last two paragraphs how did you feel by reading them? I know for me reading all the negative thoughts I get anxious and down, but this paragraph I feel energized and ready. I get a ‘bring it on’ attitude rather than a ‘now what’ attitude.
Positive psychology is just that easy. Concentrate on the positive strengths and the not so positive stuff gets left by the side where it belongs! I will talk more about this as this week goes by and about this book, but let’s take our time with this one. So, what are your positive statements, your positive strengths? List them out, not in your head rather write them down! Yes, write them down! Then read them out loud to yourself today. Yep, 3 or 4 times today, read your strengths out loud to yourself! How does it make you feel when you concentrate on your strengths? Do you sit up a bit; do you smile; do you feel confident to face anything that comes your way? I want to know what happens. Three times today tell yourself out loud your strengths!
Okay, I am going to say it (and expose my insecurities) what if you think you have a strength but you are only kidding yourself and it is not one?
ReplyDeleteONe thing we should all consider is to look at your life from a management aspect. One tool I have used is the "Stop, Start, Continue" mindset. In other words as 3 questions 1. What should I stop doing, 2. What should I stop doing, and 3. What should I continue to do. If a strength is really not a strength, should you stop pretending, start a goal plan to make it a strength, or continue fooling yourself. It gets back to you.
ReplyDeleteJanice