Mindset. It’s everywhere whether you know it or not. Growth mindset is one of the key differentiators between people who achieve their goals and those who don’t. Recognising a Growth mindset (and using it) dramatically impacts upon your performance whatever you do in life. Achieving your goals with a growth mindset is a lifelong habit worth investing your time in. But what is mindset? and how can you build your mindset muscle? We give take a look at mindset meaning and bring you the skinny on growth mindset Vs fixed mindset. Let the battle begin as we ask, what is mindset?
10 Hacks to Create a Growth Mindset in the Workplace
What does a growth mindset workplace look like? How would you recognise a growth mindset company? And how can you develop a growth mindset in the workplace? We take a look. read on for PCG’s 10 hacks to create a growth mindset in the workplace.
How To Stop Negative Thinking
When one thing goes wrong sometimes it can snowball and infect the rest of your day. Negative thinking can easily multiply and once you’re on a roll it can be a hard habit to break. We take a look at why negative thoughts come to mind (clue: it’s known as weapon focus), what negative thoughts are and how to stop negative thinking from in its tracks. That’s right, we’re going to show you how to kick those pesky thoughts into the long grass for good.
Are You A Growth Mindset Company?
Are you a growth mindset company? Why does it matter? There are a plethora of business trailblazers including Microsoft, Spotify, Quest and Google actively developing a growth mindset culture within their organisations and with good reason. We’re working with some of them to embed growth mindset but what makes them want to develop growth mindset employees? And what makes a growth mindset such an important component of a successful business? We take a look at the answer to these questions and more. Join us to find out if you are a growth mindset company.
3 Steps to Introduce Positive Psychology at Work
If you’re new to positive psychology or thinking about how you can implement it on a practical level in your workplace, you’ve come to the right place. Unlike traditional psychology it doesn’t focus on dysfunction, what’s broken or what’s not working. Nope. By looking at what works it aims to create more of it. Positive psychology is a new, science backed paradigm that will enable your team to flourish, optimise performance and even, wait for it, feel happier at work. We show you how.
How Positive Psychology Can Transform Your Leadership
Positive psychology has turned traditional leadership metrics upside down. This new science of success examines strengths rather than weakness, celebrates failure as the path to mastery and encourages a culture of learning rather than competition. We dive into three tried and tested, evidence based kick ass positive psychology practices that will positively impact upon your leadership.
Where Can I Find Great Training Courses By Experts?
Where can I find great training courses?
You won’t ever pay extra for bespoke, tailored training with us. It comes as standard with our training courses (and we’ll guarantee that our standard is less than our competitors).
We’ll also give you UNLIMITED support after we’ve worked with you and delivered your training courses.
You’ll get FREE access to a huge range of resources including psychometrics, self assessments, blogs, e-books, podcasts and videos. Our suite of resources complements all of our training courses.
You and your team will get FREE access to our virtual Q&A surgeries to trouble shoot any challenges that you come up against after your bespoke training course.
We’re here for you. We want you to succeed and we’d like to be part of that by doing everything we can to help you get there. It means everything to us.
No fuss. No gimmicks. No spin.
Just very well qualified, highly experienced trainers who want your performance to soar. We’re different because, well, you are.
Find out more about what we do by visiting the rest of this site or our events page www.positivechangeguru.com or contact us as admin@positivechangeguru.com
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You can ask us to create bitesize espresso, half day, 1 day or 2 day training options for you all at no extra cost. We also deliver conference keynotes based upon our latest research. Just ask! Contact us at admin@positivechangeguru.com
Introducing Writing For Wellbeing Into Your Workplace Health Strategy
Taking a holistic approach to your wellbeing strategy is never simple. Even when your wellbeing strategy is established, growing the health of your staff and remaining proactive is crucial. As Prof. Cary Cooper states, “A workforce that is well works well.” Creating a culture of wellbeing takes time, commitment and constant innovation. The old one size fits all approach to wellbeing is now obsolete. One of the most new and innovative ways to support staff wellbeing is writing. Long since recognised in the US as a workplace intervention, it is slowly gaining popularity in the UK.
Embracing Difficulty = Grit
Resilience: from the Latin word resilo – to jump back. The capacity to bounce back from adversity, adapt and succeed.
Embracing difficulty is key to resilience. But what is it? Resilience describes our ability to manage difficulties effectively rather than be overwhelmed when confronted by adversity. Perhaps one of the most profound definitions is from Viktor Frankl, concentration camp survivor and author of ‘Man’s search for Meaning”. ‘When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.’ It comes as no surprise that Frankl’s work has been modified and applied in a workplace setting. An increasing body of research suggests that resilience is also a valuable predictor of success. Penn Professor, Angela Lee-Duckworth’s research suggests that resilience is an even more accurate predictor of success than IQ. A heady claim for something we’re not taught in school. So what’s is it about resilience that makes it such an important differentiator? Lets find out.
Facing Difficulty
Glenn Richardson, Professor and chair, Department of Health Promotion and Education, University of Utah describes resilience as mental toughness and encourages employees to think differently about how they view difficulty. When met by challenge, Richardson suggests that we develop the mindful habit of taking a moment of calm to support ourselves in developing resilience, by making a choice to work with our emotions to accept failure and examine what we can learn from it. This presents a very different approach to turning away from difficulty to get the job done which employees are sometimes forced into doing by workplace pressures. Dr Gregg Steinberg suggests that challenge and adversity can develop emotional intelligence and grit, enabling people to bounce back to an even higher level of resilience than before. For Steinberg, adversity creates and shines a light upon what is missing in life, highlighting what we need to be more successful and happier. Watch Gregg talking about ‘Falling Up’ in our ’10 Best Resilience Videos’ blog. You might be asking yourself how you can turn towards difficulty or failure when your natural response is to turn away, run for the hills and avoid it. Resilience is a skill that can be learned and you can begin to work out your resiliency muscles right now. The next time you face adversity, try the following;
Embed calm checkpoints into your day.
Stop.
Take a moment to notice what’s happening. Breathe and sit with what is there for you in that moment.
Name it.
Known as ‘Affect Labelling’ this is where you identify the emotion. Try saying to yourself “Hello anxiety” if that’s what you’re feeling. Recognising and naming the emotion makes a distinction; you are experiencing anxiety rather than labeling yourself as an anxious person.
Work with what shows up.
As human beings we typically move towards what feels good and avoid what doesn’t, frequently missing what we feel neutral towards. Instead of moving toward the positive or trying to push difficult emotions away, bring a gentle curiosity to both. Notice your reaction without judging it. Reflect on the nuances of perceptions of positive, negative and neutral. Is there an associated response in the body? Tension or lightness? Bring mindful awareness to whatever arises.
It’s not Forever.
Recognising the impermanence of all emotions is key. Mindfulness teaches us that emotions are just mental events with a short life span. Ask yourself what you need in order to manage that emotion in this moment.
Investigate.
Reflect on what is really going on for you. Is there historical stuff or emotional baggage that has led to this emotion? Your response might be appropriate, now you’ve investigated you’re in a better position to choose how to respond effectively and skillfully.
Practice on a regular basis.
When you develop the capacity to face difficulty you are able to make more skillful choices. Mindful awareness of challenging situations gives us the opportunity to defuse difficult thoughts and emotions and create distance. With that distance we can choose our response rather than falling into habitual knee – jerk reactions.
Difficulty is part of life, it isn’t going anywhere soon but the good new is that resilience isn’t an absolute. Changing over time it can grow, be learned and developed. For more information on how to build your resilience check out our other blogs, our free ‘Build Your Resilience’ webinar or come to one of our resilience training courses, we’d love to see you there!
To find out more about building resilience or resilience training contact us at info@positivechangeguru.com
Ageing and resilience – how attitudes help manage stress
How our attitudes towards ageing influence resilience
Your attitude to ageing – more than a passing thought?
We’re almost continuously bombarded with tips and advice about the secrets of remaining young but have you ever considered how your attitude towards ageing could impact you in other ways?
Ageing and resilience
New research from North Carolina State University (NCSU) examines the link between attitudes towards ageing and resilience. The team at NCSU were curious to know why previous research examining older adults attitudes towards ageing and resilience had shown mixed results. Lead researcher, Jennifer Bellingtier explains,
“… some studies have found that older adults are less resilient than younger adults at responding to stress; some have found that they’re more resilient; and some have found no difference … we wanted to see whether attitudes toward aging could account for this disparity in research findings. In other words, are older adults with positive attitudes about aging more resilient than older adults with negative attitudes?”
The study
Forty three participants, aged between 60 and 96 were asked to complete a daily questionnaire regarding stress and negative emotions they’d experienced over a period of eight days. Researchers factored for how optimistic and upbeat participants generally were in order to establish whether attitudes specifically towards ageing influenced resilience. Participants were asked a series of questions at the beginning of the research to establish their attitudes towards ageing. For example, researchers asked if participants felt they were as useful now as they were when they were younger, or whether they were as happy now as when they were younger.
Bellingtier and her team found that older people with a more positive attitude towards ageing were more resilient in the face of stressful events. The older people with a more positive attitude did not show a significant increase in negative emotions on more stressful days. Participants with a more negative attitude towards ageing showed significantly increased negative emotions in relation to stressful events.
Implications of the research
The way we think about ageing has a very real impact on our ability to manage stress as we get older. Stress has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The research illustrates the importance of managing our emotions and cultivating the skills that allow us to effectively deal with stress. We’re are all able to practice and develop the techniques that enable us to enhance a feeling of calm and quickly move away from negative emotions rather than dwelling on whatever has caused us to feel that way. Why not try Positive Change Guru’s ‘how mindful are you? assessment to get started on managing your negative emotions.
We love to talk about all things positive psychology at Positive Change Guru. Check out our forthcoming events or get in touch to find out more about our suite of courses. We’ll be excited to talk to you about bespoke positive psychology training for your organisation.
