Your future begins here. Check out these self-assessment tools.

‘… One cannot build on weakness. To achieve results, one has to use all the available strengths…  These strengths are the true opportunities’ (Drucker, 1967)

The Theory from Gallup:

There is a short, but excellent article summarizing Tom Corley’s research he published in his best-selling book “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life,” on what financially successful people do in comparison to lower earning individuals. I have added my own commentary to several, but do read his article.

• They get up early
  Well begun, half done, so goes the saying. It is not getting up early that matters as much as what you do when you are up. Getting up early allows for several other habits take hold–exercise, reading, quiet contemplation. One excellent practice is known as morning pages whereby you aim to write 750 words fist thing.

• They read, a lot
  Feed your wisdom/knowledge and Strategic Thinking. His research suggests that you are better focusing on non-fiction such as biographies. What should you read? Here are a few lists to get you started:
  • 25 Recommendations For Life Changing Biographies
  • 25 Books for Success
  • 20 Books That the World’s Most Successful People Read and Recommend
  • 20 Best Personal Development Books to Skyrocket Your Success
  • The Reading Habits of Ultra-Successful People

• They spend 15 to 30 minutes each day on focused thinking
  Perhaps this can be split into two parts: Focused thing vis-a-vis your goals and tasks at hand, and focused attending to yourself such as a mindful practice. Tim Ferris figures 85% of his guests on his excellent podcast have some sort of contemplative practice.

• They make exercise a priority
  Research shows Cardio exercise is not just good for the heart and waist, but your brain as well from stress and anxiety to depression and many others. Watch John Ratey explain

And exercising is very good for the brain:

• They spend time with people who inspire them
  Role models and mentors are powerful inspiration. Chris Peterson famously summed a life worth living as “Other People Matter:

The Greater Good Society reports that “Results from some studies—as well as end-of-life conversations—indicate that many people count their relationships as the most meaningful part of their lives, even when those relationships are difficult or strained.” There is one special relationship that matters: Mentors:

• They pursue their own goals
  The Ritz Carelton has curated seven great TED Talks  on goal-setting and how to follow through on your dreams.

1) Keep your goals to yourself by Derek Sivers

In this three-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares psychological evidence about the importance of keeping your goals quiet. You’ll have a better chance of following through on your plans if you don’t share them with others.

2) Try Something New for 30 Days by Matt Cutts

In this three-minute TED Talk, the speaker shows how small steps can lead to big adventures. Inviting activity into your life seems to lead to a richer experience.

3) 5 Ways to Kill Your Dreams by Bel Pesce

In this six-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares five lines of thought that will keep you from reaching your goals, and she also emphasizes the significance of the journey.

4) Four Keys for Setting and Achieving Goals by William Barr

In this eight-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how he was able to build one of the nation’s largest home improvement companies.

5) If You Want to Achieve Your Goals, Don’t Focus on Them by Reggie Rivers

In this 11-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how focusing on the goals can actually prevent you from achieving your goals. By focusing on your behaviors, you will be more driven to follow through.

6) The Key to Success? Grit by Angela Lee Duckworth

In this 6-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how grit is a key ingredient for success. She encourages the audience to live life as a marathon and not a sprint.

7) The Power of Believing That You Can Improve by Carol Dweck

In this 11-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how adopting a growth mindset can open you up to greater success. She encourages the audience to see a challenge as a “yet” opportunity.

• They get enough sleep
  You need sleep to draw on vitality. Tom Rath explains getting Fully Charged:

• They have multiple incomes
  Obviously financial wealth requires income. Multiple incomes take precedence especially if they are self-sustaining. Tim Ferris explains in his book the Four Hour Work Week.

• They avoid times wasters
  Hopefully you do not see this blog as a time waster. Even the pope has spoken out against Digital Media filters: “When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously,” he wrote in the letter.

People strong in the Deliberative theme are best described by the serious care they take in making decisions or choices. They anticipate the obstacles.

• Needs on a team: To think things through
• As a Leader: Anticipate obstacles
• In Conflict: Help make decisions
• Partner with: someone with strong Command, Self-Assurance, or Activator talents. Together you will make many decisions, and these decisions will be sound.
• In academics: – loves to think it through – this student wants to know all the options and have all the information in hand before making a decision – will probably be well- prepared for the advising session and will appreciate an advisor who is well- informed and fairly directive – likes to know that the advisor can be trusted – will want to double check everything and will be concerned about meeting requirements – prefers courses where the expectations are clear, where class time is used well, and where students take the course seriously – encourage them to get copies of syllabi before choosing their courses, so there will be no surprises

Learn more here. 

Read the full primer here.

Do what makes you happy? Sure…maybe…no. No. Do what makes you great, so argues Charlie Day, creator of It’s Always Sunny in Philedelphia, in his commencement speech to Merrimack college. In an amusing set of vignettes, Charlie outlines how his choices shaped his success: “Fail, pick yourself up and fail again. Because without this struggle, what is your success anyway?”

“You cannot let a fear of failure, or a fear of comparison, or a fear of judgement stop you from doing what’s going to make you great. You cannot succeed without this risk of failure, you cannot have a voice without the risk of criticism and you cannot love without the risk of loss. You must go out and take these risk. … Do what’s uncomfortable, and scary, and hard, but pays off in the long run. Be willing to fail. Let yourself fail. Fail in the way and the place where you would want to fail. Fail, pick yourself up and fail again. Because without this struggle, what is your success anyway?”

Strengths mined:

• Humor
• Bravery
• Wisdom
• Perseverence

Looking for movies to use in your classes?

Happy the Movie

Movie Discussion Guide

Does money make you HAPPY? Kids and family? Your work? Do you live in a world that values and promotes happiness and well-being? Are we in the midst of a happiness revolution?

Roko Belic, director of the Academy Award® nominated “Genghis Blues” now brings us HAPPY, a film that sets out to answer these questions and more. Taking us from the bayous of Louisiana to the deserts of Namibia, from the beaches of Brazil to the villages of Okinawa, HAPPY explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion.

I am

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? 

Fully Charged

Project Happiness

Film Disucssion Guide

Movie to promote character strengths through discussion: From the book Positive Psychology at the Movies.

Philosophy Guide to happiness playlist

Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness – Epicurus on Happiness

Philosophy – A Guide to Happiness: Seneca on Anger

From Upenn’s website

VIDEO LECTURES BY LEADING SCHOLARS

What is gratitude:

Gratitude opens your heart and carries the urge to give back— to do something good in return, either for the person who helped you or for someone else.

From Barbara Fredrickson’s Positivity

Some ideas for Cultivating Gratitude in students:

1) Keep a gratitude journal:

Key here is not to just go throught the motions, as the Greater Good’s Jason Marsh points out:

• Don’t just go through the motions. Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others suggests that journaling is more effective if you first make the conscious decision to become happier and more grateful. “Motivation to become happier plays a role in the efficacy of journaling,” says Emmons.
• Go for depth over breadth. Elaborating in detail about a particular thing for which you’re grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things.
• Get personal. Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful.
• Try subtraction, not just addition. One effective way of stimulating gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain blessings, rather than just tallying up all those good things.
• Savor surprises. Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude.
• Don’t overdo it. Writing occasionally (once or twice per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling. In fact, one study by Lyubomirsky and her colleagues found that people who wrote in their gratitude journals once a week for six weeks reported boosts in happiness afterward; people who wrote three times per week didn’t. “We adapt to positive events quickly, especially if we constantly focus on them,” says Emmons. “It seems counterintuitive, but it is how the mind works.”

There is even an iphone app

Or a free one

Building Gratitude, especially sincere gratitdue takes a mindful effort. 

A variation we use a lot in small groups is the three good things/three blessings activity as Described by Martin Seligman:

You can try a guided meditation on Gratitude like this one or this one from UCLA or hit two postive emotions in one Expression of Gratitude & Love Meditation 

Other activites you might try include

Other activities you might try in the classrom include

• Gratitude Surprise Sticky Notes. Give each student one or more sticky notes to write something they’re grateful for about another person in the school community. Then have the students “deliver” the sticky notes by placing them where the person will see it, e.g., a locker, a phone, a cleaning cart. Source: Greater good
• Gratitude Quotes. Give students their own gratitude quote (here’s a great list of quotes) and have them reflect upon and write about what their quote means to them. Source: Greater good
• Try Jeffrey Froh and Giacomo Bono’s gratitude curriculum to deepen students’ understanding of gratitude.
• Thanksgiving Time Capsule from PBS Parents
• DIY Thankful Board from U Create
• Make a collage using pictures of things you are grateful for. Let your child have the camera and take photos of all things they are grateful for.  You may like to print out the pictures and then make a collage, or create a collage online (like inPicMonkey) and then print it for them.  Most kids love the opportunity to use a camera! Source: Momentsaday

• Play the “What Would You Feel Without It” Game. This game can be done any time during the day, the more silly mood you are in probably the better.  Simply ask the kids what would they feel like without various items.  They will be surprised how different life would be without some of the things they consider “normal” to have.  You may like to begin a discussion about how other people live without such items, if it is age appropriate, to help them remember to appreciate what is sometimes taken for granted in their life. Source: Momentsaday

  

   

   

   

   

   

   

Gratitude: 

Much research has come out recently on the positive impact of practicing gratitude. “We’ve studied more than one thousand people, from ages eight to 80, and found that people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits:

Physical
• Stronger immune systems
• Less bothered by aches and pains
• Lower blood pressure
• Exercise more and take better care of their health
• Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking

Psychological
• Higher levels of positive emotions
• More alert, alive, and awake
• More joy and pleasure
• More optimism and happiness

Social
• More helpful, generous, and compassionate
• More forgiving
• More outgoing
• Feel less lonely and isolated.

Source: Greater Good Society

Greatful people like to give back. Greatful college graduates are likely to do someting for their alma mata. Certainly many alumni have strong affections for their colleges, willingly giving time and money to help the old school. 

So if graduates really were greatful for the college experience, they would give back. Obviously, not everyone strikes it big and can afford to give a lot–Cal Tech tops the list when it comes to average contribution at over $56,000. But what if ever alumni gave some money–wouldn’t that indicate a high level of engagement and satisfaction? Over half the graduates at Williams donate whiel a paultry 13% gave to Columbia. So a writer over at Forbes calculated this out figuring, “The idea is that the best colleges are the ones that produce successful people who make enough money during their careers to be charitable and feel compelled to give back to the schools that contributed to their success.” He took some flack for focusing on teh monetary side and thus made adjustments to this year’s ranking to award 20% to the actual percent of alumni giving. 

His list excluses schools of less than 1000 students and public universities. You can see the complete list here, but the top 50 are below. 6 of the top 10 are liveral arts colleges.