In my post on Wednesday , I promised to summarise the gems from Stefan Sagmeister’s diary: ‘Things in my life I have learned so far’, which he presented in his talk on Design and Happiness. Many of them are underpinned by Positive Psychology concepts and research, some of which I have shown in italics. Here are the ones I think are most relevant to a discussion on Positive Psychology and coaching, in no particular order:

*Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid – I have to live now (research on Time Perspectives by Zimbardo and Boniwell suggests that people who are very future-oriented miss out on enjoying the present. Also, research on flow suggests that people are happier when living in the
moment.)

* Money does not make me happy (research suggests that over a certain threshold (which is actually quite low), more money does not actually make you happier.)

* Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted (this is a process called ‘adaptation’ i.e. you adapt back to a mildly pleasant mood after both good and bad events. This has two important implications which are often overlooked: 1) that we should not expect full-on intense happiness all the time, and 2) that we should expect to recover from any hardship and difficulties in our lives.)

* Trying to look good limits my life (research suggests that concentrating on your physical appearance does not make you happy.)

* Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses (This is a way to overcome the adaptation process mentioned above i.e. you consciously don’t allow yourself to get to a position where you do adapt to material luxuries, because eventually you would stop enjoying them and crave something
more.)

* Keeping a diary supports my personal development (this is a good coaching tip – by taking 5 or 10 minutes every day to reflect on what happens in your life, you often get insights which aid personal growth.)

There speaks a true Positive Psychologist! If you have any of your own tips for maintaining your well-being which others might benefit from, we’d love to hear about them.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend a Performance Coaching Masterclass with Myles Downey, organised by the Academy of Executive Coaching in London. Downey founded the School of Coaching in 1997 and has recently acquired 100% ownership. His book, Effective Coaching: Lessons from the Coach’s Coach, has been in my Top 3 since I started coaching and has been a crucial influence on my own approach ; in it he presents a compelling argument for non-directive coaching, in which the key role of the coach is to facilitate the coachee’s (or client’s or player’s)

1) awareness, through actively noticing, and
2) responsibility, by allowing them to actively follow their own interest, make their own choices and decisions.

Awareness and responsibility are essential components of engagement and developing intrinsic motivation, and are therefore crucial to coaching effectiveness and success. Anyone working in business change management and transformation knows that change cannot occur effectively without them.

At the Masterclass, Downey performed two demonstrations, one in which he coached someone to catch a tennis ball one-handed. ‘What’s that got to do with business coaching?’ you might ask. Well, it was a visible and powerful demonstration of what sports psychologist and coach Tim Gallwey referred to as The Inner Game, which is simply

Potential – Interference = Performance.

By getting the coachee to notice and focus their attention on the ball and how it is in flight, interference (in the form of fear, doubt, lack of confidence about ability etc) is removed and the coachee enters a flow state, in which they are more creative, insightful, relaxed, intuitive and objective. Rather than worry about dropping the ball and trying too hard to catch it, the coachee’s focus is temporarily placed outside themselves, resulting in visibly improved performance.

With his emphasis on strengths and developing potential I would describe Downey as a true Positive Psychology coach. If you want to understand more about the role of Positive Psychology in coaching read Effective Coaching ; just be aware that the book was first published in 1999, before the term ‘Positive Psychology’ really came into regular use. Your coaching practice will be re-energised as a result.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi , founder of the flow concept, is the Positive Psychologist with the most unpronounceable name. Take a look at this… shows we’re not the only ones struggling with it.

BTW I’m reliably informed you say ‘cheek-sent-me-high’. Our PP class, however, prefers to call him “Mike”…

Stefan Sagmeister, Austrian-born graphic designer, shares his thoughts on the subjects of design and happiness . His insights are very personal (such as his list of breathtaking moments), however, there are many themes here which everyone can relate to – such as doing work which really matters to you, being able to immerse yourself in work without being interrupted and enjoying the end results of a completed project.

Please do watch this clip, it’s only 15 minutes long, and contains some fascinating insight into the theory and practice of happiness. Plus it’s always inspiring to hear someone talk with passion and humour about their work.

Any well-being practitioners or academics reading will instantly spot that what Sagmeister talks about supports theories like self-determination , intrinsic motivation , flow ,competence, autonomy, relatedness and so on.

I liked his lists too, there were some real snippets of wisdom in ‘Things I have learned in my life so far’. In fact he has used some of them in his designs, for example, Being Not Truthful Works Against Me and Complaining is Silly: Either Act or Forget. I’ll summarise them for you in a future post.

Thanks to Neil for sending this clip to me.

Top 10 Happiness Tools

Following on from yesterday’s post about the Open University Psychological Society’s Psychology of Wellbeing Conference , I’d like to share with you the Top 10 Happiness Tools, devised by Dr Richard Stevens, Dr Jane Henry, Linda Corlett and Nevia Mullan , which were tried and tested during the BBC2 documentary ‘Making Slough Happy’.

1. Physical exercise – take half an hour of exercise three times a week.
2. Count your blessings – see our previous post for more information.
3. Set aside some time for talking to your partner or closest friend – an hour long, uninterrupted conversation.
4. Plant something (pot, container, window box) and tend it carefully.
5. Cut your TV viewing by half.
6. Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once a day.
7. Phone a friend – make contact with someone you haven’t seen for a while and arrange to meet up.
8. Have a good laugh at least once a day.
9. Give yourself a real treat every day and take the time to savour it.
10. Do a good turn for someone every day – see this post for further information, or look at Random Acts of Kindness for ideas.

To this list, and following Bernard Gesch’s nutritional advice mentioned in yesterday’s post, we would also add:
11. Ensure you’re getting the recommended daily allowance of essential vitamins and minerals.

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking at some of the research which supports these Happiness Tools.

Stevens et al suggest you try using them for two months and see the difference they make to your happiness. On average they made the citizens of Slough 33% happier, so they can work for you too. Let us know how you get on.