Free talk #7 – Business and positive psychology

Positive business is growing!2013 is certainly off to a quick and busy start here at LVS Consulting! And the interest in positive psychology is growing!

Today I was pleased to share positive psychology with the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce – via webinar! Thanks to all who attended – and thank you for the really interesting questions afterwards!

In the audience were many business owners, and positive psychology has some very specific applications for entrepreneurs and business owners. As a business owner myself, I know that it’s all-too-easy to get discouraged when a contract falls through or a client meeting doesn’t go well. And yet we need to be consistently resilient and positive in all of our business dealings.

There are skills that business owners (and everyone else) can use when learning how to be more resilient, and so I presented cognitive skills on optimism and resilience.

Optimistic explanatory style, as defined by Dr. Martin Seligman, refers to how you explain events that have happened to you. There are three domains for these explanations:

  • Permanent – the event is seen as enduring over time
  • Personal – the event is directly attributable to you
  • Pervasive – the event exists as an indicator of other life events.

Here’s an example that I shared in today’s presentation:

If I fell down the stairs at home (a bad event), I might explain that event in one of two different ways:

a) I’m so clumsy! I’m always doing things like that! I tripped over my own feet just the other day! I’m just a dolt. I just shouldn’t do anything like that again. Next time someone else can go to the basement!

b) Those basement stairs were way too slippery! And I was so tired – it was first thing in the morning. But that sure did wake me up!

Can you hear how different those explanations are?

Technically the glass is always fullThe first explanation is a very pessimistic explanation. It is very permanent, personal and pervasive in tone. The reason why I fell down the stairs is because of me (I’m clumsy = personal). It has a tone of permanence (clumsiness is a trait that I have indelibly in my character). And the fact that I fell down the stairs is echoed in other events that I remember from other times.

The second explanation is a very optimistic explanation. It isn’t permanent (it won’t always be morning, I won’t always be tired), it isn’t personal (the stairs were slippery – anyone might have fallen down them) and it isn’t pervasive (it doesn’t have any impact on other events past or future).

Pessimists tend to explain negative events as permanent, personal and pervasive. Optimists tend to view negative events as temporary, impersonal and isolated.

However, optimists tend to explain positive events as permanent, personal and pervasive. Pessimists see positive events as temporary, impersonal and isolated.

For example, think about the last time you were driving around looking for a parking spot, and a great spot opened up right in front of you – right near where you wanted to go! As you scooped that spot, what did you think? Did you think something like “I always get the great spots! I’m lucky that way” or did you think something more like “Well that was a fluke! That never happens to me!”. Can you tell which is the pessimistic explanation and which is the optimistic one?

The good news is that even if you find yourself trending more towards the pessimistic explanation, you can change – you can learn the skills to be more optimistic in your explanation. You don’t need to do this all the time – and in fact you shouldn’t be optimistic all of the time – but when pessimism isn’t working for you, it’s worth trying something different.

Resilience builds over time as you practice and integrate more optimistic thinking into your cognitive repetoire.

Why is this important for business owners?

Running your own business isn’t for the faint of heart. You will encounter setbacks. You will have people who tell you it can’t be done. You may encounter financial difficulties and crises of confidence. If the business is important to you, you won’t want to give up. And even very successful businesses still have difficult employees, clients who default on payments and occasional legal worries. That’s all part of having a business.

Optimistic explanatory style can help keep your spirits and morale high even in difficult times. It will keep your psychological energy high, and optimists also tend to be physically healthier. Optimists tend to have more friends (which means a better support network) and better personal relationships.

Give it a try – I’d love to hear how it goes!

 

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LVS Consulting now has a SlideShare site and you can see a sample of my 51 free talks there: http://www.slideshare.net/LVSConsulting. To book your “free talk on positive psychology”, please contact LVS Consulting directly through email or by leaving a comment on this blog.

Lisa Sansom

Lisa Sansom has her MBA from the Rotman School of Management, and over two decades of experience in teaching and training. Her years of work in the organizational development field have included projects on change management, employee engagement, leadership development, team coaching and employer of choice strategies.

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