Creating Habits that Stick

Who said humans were bad at change? Just look at how we’ve adapted to new ways of working and living whilst facing this global pandemic. There are parents with full-time jobs, who are caring for their children and/or even helping with their learning. Then there are the small businesses like restaurants who’ve had to pivot to survive […]

Priming the Tigers

The work of Barbara Fredrickson (2001), and other researchers, has told us how important it is to experience positive emotions like joy, hope, pride, amusement, love and gratitude, in order to be more optimistic, resilient, accepting, curious, happier and healthier overall. When it comes to work, positive emotions have also been found to build better […]

Not Yet

I’d like you to think back to a time when you received feedback or a result that made you feel like you had failed. What impact did that experience have on you? Did it motivate you to power on to improve? Or were you more inclined to just give up? Carol Dweck is the Lewis […]

Play To Your Strengths

One of the biggest breakthroughs in psychology and leadership theories over the past decade has been in the area of strengths. Strengths can be defined as a “pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking or feeling that is authentic and energising to the user, and enables optimal functioning, development and performance” (Linley, 2008). […]

In the Business of Wellbeing

There is no ignoring the fact that unwell employees are expensive to organisations. Beyond Blue has found that depression and anxiety alone cost Australian businesses about $10.9 billion a year. The financial implications associated with having unwell employees is not the only cost to businesses however, there are productivity costs also such as the inability […]

In The Zone

I’d like you to think about a time when you were fully absorbed in an activity and everything around you disappeared. Your mind would have been focused on nothing but the task at hand. Time would have ticked by without you realising and you would have had no real experience of feelings or emotions. You […]

The Third Space

Do you ever leave the office with more than just your hand / laptop / lunch bag? Many of us carry the burden of a hard day’s work with us when we arrive home. We open the door highly strung and tense, rather than being relaxed and present with our loved ones. Dr Adam Fraser […]

Happy World Gratitude Day!

Celebrated officially since 1965 on the 21st September every year, World Gratitude Day is dedicated to acknowledging what’s going well in your life. Yet we shouldn’t have to wait for a particular date to practise gratitude, it should be something we do every day. Besides, there is too much for us to be grateful for […]

Be Kind

In a previous post, I explored the wellbeing framework PERMA. One of the elements of this model suggests that if you focus on increasing your experiences of positive emotions, your levels of happiness will go up. One way you can do this is to practise kindness – doing something to someone that will benefit them. […]

The Other Side of Psychology

Traditionally, Psychology was meant to achieve three things; 1. cure mental illness, 2. improve ‘normal’ lives and 3. identify and nurture high talent. Unfortunately, following World War 2, the focus of Psychology has been on the first, and fixing lives that needed help. This is obviously critically important for those suffering mental illness, yet the […]