Positive Psychology: Building Resilience at Home & Work

The economic downturn changed the way employees work, and as a result, busy professionals are living and working with uncommon amounts of stress. Here are some statistics:

• According to Gallup, more than $300 billion is lost annually due to disengagement in the workplace and 55% of employees are stressed out to the point of feeling extremely fatigued and out of control
• 95% of office visits to doctors are for stress-related issues (from So Stressed)
• In 2011, American workers forfeited $34 billion in vacation days (from CNN Money)

Five decades of research in this area shows that resilience is a bundle of skills that can be taught, learned and improved. Resilience skills are currently being taught in the military, education, the legal profession and in business.

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Emerging leaders and other professionals who want to acquire a new skill set that will allow them to manage stress, increase well-being and become effective managers of change and adversity.

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• What the Science of Positive Psychology is and how it differs from the mental illness side of psychology
• Key research findings in Positive Psychology along with practical exercises to help build more well-being, positive emotion, self-efficacy and hope
• What resilience is and what the specific ingredients and skills are that go into building it
• Critical skills for resilient thinking including, but not limited to, a step-by-step process for identifying and shutting down counterproductive thinking so that you can perform
• Ways to leverage your strengths and the strengths of others to help you during stressful times
• The importance of responding to other's good news and the damage not doing so can have in your work and personal relationships

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MODULE 1

In this module, we will explore the science of Positive Psychology and how it came into being, including a short component on the differences between Positive Psychology and traditional psychology. With this background, students will explore the science and application behind specific areas of Positive Psychology, including, but not limited to:

• Well-being (and the research-based formula to help you get more of it)
• Hope (and the specific elements that help to make you more hopeful)
• Strengths (identifying yours and those of the people you live and work with)
• Positive emotions (and the key ratio required in order to become more creative and build your resources)
• Self-efficacy (how to build your confidence)
• Flow (the tricks to being in “the zone”)

MODULE 2

This module will introduce students to the science of resilience. Students will learn what resilience is and why it is a key skill set to develop in work and in life. Fifty years of resilience research shows that resilience is made up of specific components that can be taught, practiced and improved. You will learn the specific components or abilities that need to be built in order to improve your resilience and practice the specific skills needed to build resilient thinking.  Some of the skills include:

• Detecting counterproductive patterns in your thinking
• Identifying common thinking errors
• Stopping counterproductive thinking in the moment so you can perform
• Balancing your thinking when you have worst case scenario thoughts

MODULE 3

Building on the lessons and skills taught in Module 2, this module will explore, and give students the opportunity to practice, skills related to the other resilience abilities. Specifically, students will:

• Discuss what it means to have meaning and how to build more meaning in work and life activities by using the LIST
• Learn the importance of responding to other’s good news and how not doing so can damage relationships
• Identify what restores you and what depletes you both at home and work and how the thinking errors learned in Module 2 prevent you from creating your own version of work/life balance
• Learn how to effectively have tough conversations with others in a way that builds the relationship

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