I’m thrilled to see an article by accomplished journalist Mel Hunter in Essentials Magazine this month, focussing on how to become more optimistic in one week. Mel’s been interested in Positive Psychology for some time and she decided to try this as a personal experiment  following several discussions with me about the efficacy of positive […]

It’s the end of January already! “Where has the time gone?” my elderly neighbour Stella asked this morning as we chatted about the weather, our families, and which birds we had  spotted in our gardens (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is doing a nationwide Bird Watch this weekend). Stella is a real […]

Happy New Year! As this is often a time when we reflect on our past achievements and set new goals for the future, I’d like to share with you some of the latest positive psychology research which you may find helpful. Focus on creating approach goals According to psychology research, avoidance goals (those with negative […]

Here’s my April 2011 posting for Positive Psychology News Daily in it’s entirety this time. Sorry it’s so much later than usual, hopefully you’ve been able to keep uptodate via PPND. This month I look at the implications of new research on happiness, in particular the roles of fit, motivation and effort in becoming happier. […]

Here’s a great animated video supporting Daniel Pink’s presentation on intrinsic motivation and why profit-related pay (PRP) doesn’t actually motivate people to work harder. According to Pink, psychology research shows that economists have got it all wrong. If you want to motivate and engage people, and get them work harder, they need to experience the […]

Positive Psychology often talks about the benefits that helping others can have on your well-being – you may have come across the phrase ‘random acts of kindness’. Research by Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues suggests that doing  a variety of random acts of kindness for other people, such as holding the door open or helping someone […]

We were talking about this just the other day: so here’s an uplifting tale from the States (where else?) on the positive after-effects of losing your job. The moral of the story? Write a best-seller about your experience, and sell the film rights! Thanks to Caroline Rivka for the link Image: Alex Cheek, reused under […]

According to Debbie Whitaker, Standard Chartered’s Head of Sustainability, ‘everyone has talents that we wish to leverage’. This is a bold statement, considering Standard Chartered is a bank with over 60,000 employees in 56 countries. Their reasons for focusing on talent are fourfold: i) greater growth potential ii) better people performanceiii) increased employee engagement and […]

According to Debbie Whitaker, Standard Chartered’s Head of Sustainability, ‘everyone has talents that we wish to leverage’. This is a bold statement, considering Standard Chartered is a bank with over 60,000 employees in 56 countries. Their reasons for focusing on talent are fourfold: i) greater growth potential ii) better people performanceiii) increased employee engagement and […]

According to Debbie Whitaker, Standard Chartered’s Head of Sustainability, ‘everyone has talents that we wish to leverage’. This is a bold statement, considering Standard Chartered is a bank with over 60,000 employees in 56 countries. Their reasons for focusing on talent are fourfold: i) greater growth potential ii) better people performanceiii) increased employee engagement and […]

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 […]

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 […]