Archive Page 2

Fostering Creativity and Innovation

19Jul08

This post is a bit of a conglomeration of ideas, and I haven’t quite worked out how all the pieces fit together in my mind yet, so if it seems a bit disorganized and unfinished just bear with me, I really wanted to get this out there.

I stumbled across this article from a 2001 psychological journal and as I began reading it I was amazed by the first three paragraphs. It felt like they had jarred something in to focus that had been creeping around in the back of my mind for a long time.

Those paragraphs were:

Some years ago, I talked with an industrial psychologist. “When you cut through all the motivational crap,” he said, “people have only two primary motivations: pursuit of possibilities and avoidance of negative consequences.”

“Around 3 percent of our population,” he continued, “is primarily motivated to pursue possibilities. About 92 percent completely concerns itself with avoiding negatives. There’s a 5 percent swing group that’s sometimes motivated by one, sometimes the other.”

“As organizations age,” he concluded, “they first throw out employees who pursue possibilities. Next, they get rid of those who might pursue possibilities. Who’s left? Only people devoutly committed to avoiding negatives. They won’t deviate from the status quo or introduce diversity, and they’ll move to kill off anyone who even thinks about it.”

Two things immediately came to mind when I first read that:

  1. Innovative organizations - I think that the last paragraph is becoming less and less true. Organizations (businesses) like Google have worked to cultivate diversity and creativity and try to attract people who pursue possibilities, and it has paid off for them in a big way. I think stagnation and avoidance of negatives thinking is, in the business world at least, becoming a thing of the past.
  2. How do we grow that 3 percent - We know who the 3 percent are. They’re the Einsteins and the Edisons, the people who aren’t afraid to make mistakes and who push forward and innovate relentlessly. They’re our heroes, they’re the people we want to be.

I think that point one is, in part, an answer to point two. A business (like Google) is an organization. Government is also an organization, but bigger. Culture is also an organization, but again, bigger.

The problem though is that while business has begun to catch on and is trying to make everyone like that 3 percent, the political and cultural organizations of our lives are still stuck catering to the mindset of the 92 percent who are trying to avoid negatives.

I mean, can you imagine what the US government would be capable of if it fostered creativity and pushed innovation? Can you imagine what our culture would look like if we were all encouraged by our peers in our daily lives to be more creative and to pursue possibility more?

What I’m saying, I suppose, is that we need to apply the lessons of organizations like Google to the other, bigger, more important organizations that we all belong to, like government and culture.

I haven’t really gotten beyond that point yet in my mind, but I think it’s a theory that holds a lot of merit.

What do you think?

Further Reading:
- Fear and Anxiety: They’re in the System by Cliff Havener

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The Many Benefits of a Natural Environment

16Jul08

Mountain Biking
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There is a theory, called the Biophilia Hypothesis, that states that we have a love of nature literally built in to us.

It is believed that this love of nature runs so deep within us that being in and around nature actually has physical as well as psychological benefits.

Some of the specific benefits of the Biophilia Hypothesis are:

The evidence indicates that nature can make positive contributions to our health, help us recover from pre-existing stresses or problems, have an ‘immunising’ effect by protecting us from future stresses, and help us to concentrate and think more clearly.

More specifically, there have even been studies done on how nature helps surgery patients recover:

In a landmark study, published in 1984, Dr. Roger Ulrich showed that patients recovering from gallbladder surgery recovered more quickly and required less pain medication if they had a view of trees outside their windows than if they looked out on a brick wall.

What is even more significant is that some kinds of nature settings are more beneficial than others, and it was shown that some non-natural visual imagery can actually hinder patient recovery:

Visual images can affect health either positively or negatively. At the Bringing Buildings to Life symposium, Ulrich described a 1992 study he was involved with that examined rates of recovery from heart surgery with different wall treatments in the recovery rooms. Rooms had either bare white walls or various types of artwork, including photographs of deep, dark forests, photographs of open landscape vistas, and rectilinear abstract art. Ulrich and his fellow researchers found that the closed forest images resulted in little difference to patients compared with the blank wall, while the open landscape scenes dramatically reduced pain and anxiety. Significantly, the abstract art hindered patient recovery; in fact, according to Ulrich, the negative effect of the abstract art was so significant that the researchers discontinued that aspect of the experiment in the interest of patient health.

Clearly, the environment we are surrounded by has a potentially huge impact on our health.

Another study I looked at found that green exercise, that is exercising in nature, also had significant benefits. The researchers in that study also found that:

self-esteem was not affected by the intensity of the green exercise activities, though it did appear to rise over very long visits. This is an encouraging finding as it implies that all intensities and durations of activity generate significant mental health benefits.

So it doesn’t really matter how long you go for or even what kind of exercise you’re doing, as long as you’re getting out and being active in nature, you are benefiting.

How to use this research in your life

  • Bring nature inside - Try to surround yourself with views of nature when you’re indoors. A window, a photograph, a plant (fake or real), or even a realistic painting will all have positive effects.
  • Go experience nature - Get outside and do something active. The good news is that it doesn’t really matter what you do or how long you do it for, so you’ve got no excuses!
  • Move your life outside - It’s summer, so this is the perfect time to  take some of the things you would normally do inside and transform them in to outside activities. Reading, anything computer based (if you’ve got a laptop), eating,  or socializing with friends and family are all activities that you can easily do outside.
  • Find nature hobbies - Take up some new hobbies that involve nature like gardening, mountain biking, hiking, or even nature photography.

If you’re willing to have some new experiences and you’ve got a good imagination, there are an unlimited number of ways that you can reap the benefits of bringing more natural environments in to your life.

Further Reading:
- A Countryside for Health and Wellbeing: The Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Green Exercise (Executive summary) (pdf)
- Biophilia in Practice: Buildings that Connect People with Nature by Alex Wilson

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Dara Torres: Proof That Age Cant Hold You Back

15Jul08

Dara Torres
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I began writing this post as a story about Dara Torres, the swimmer who, at age 41, is breaking records and astounding everyone as she works to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

But as I began to research her inspirational story, I discovered that she was not the only older person competing in the games. The oldest to compete in the upcoming Beijing Olympics is actually Hiroshi Hoketsu of Japan, who, at age 67, will be competing on the equestrian team.

Now admittedly, the physical training involved in horse riding is a long way off from swimming, but then Hoketsu is not the only one who has Dara Torres beat in the age category.

  • Laurie Lever of Australia is 60 years old, and similar to Hoketsu, will be competing in horse jumping
  • Ian Millar of Canada is 61 and will also be competing in horse jumping
  • Susan Nattrass, also from Canada, is 57 and will be competing in trap shooting
  • Luan Jujie, yet another Canadian, is 50 and will be competing in fencing
  • Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli, a 49 year old cyclist from France, will be making her 8th Olympic appearance.
  • Haile Satayin, who is 53, is a marathon runner from Israel

Many of these athletes will not be training nearly as hard as Dara Torres, but Longo-Ciprelli and Satayin will both be competing in extremely physically demanding events.

Dara Torres is special though, because not only is she competing in a physically demanding event at age 41, she is breaking records and has an excellent chance of winning gold.

That is what makes Dara Torres such an inspirational person. Despite her age, she displays the drive, the determination, and the tenacity to not only compete but to break records. She stands as living proof that age is not a barrier to achieving physical excellence.

And how does she accomplish all that? Many critics have pointed to drugs as a likely explanation for her success, but Torres actually volunteered for a more thorough drug test than the one administered to other competitors.

From a positive psychology point of view, Torres’ accomplishment can be explained like this:

  • Surrounded by Excellence - Olympic athletes surround themselves with the best, and research has shown that people actually adopt the behavior of the people around them.
  • Goal Setting - Dara set a goal, which was to make it on to the team. Her new goal is to win a medal. If she just said, ‘I want to win gold’, it might have been too daunting of a task, but breaking it up in to achievable pieces is a key step for reaching big goals.
  • Motivation - “Torres said she’ll be training every day for the next five weeks, when the Olympics begin, to improve on her times in both freestyle events. She admitted her times here were slower than she’ll need to win a gold medal in Beijing.” That takes a lot of motivation. A good way to stay motivated is to make your goals public too, that way you are accountable to an external standard, rather than just being accountable to yourself.

Dara Torres is proof that many of the barriers between us and our goals are self-imposed. If we can find the will power to cast aside false barriers, there is very little we can’t do.

Further Reading:
- The Starting Line: At the Olympics, Age Is Just a Number by Jeff Klein

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How to Override Unwanted Unconscious Behavior

12Jul08

Joy
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The idea behind this post is quite similar to the idea behind another post I recently wrote, Boost Your Personal Growth by Learning a New Language.

The basic idea is that who we are thinking about when we are doing something actually has a big impact on how we do that something.

For example, the researchers in this study asked students to visualize various things and people and then fill out personality tests and self-esteem tests. They found that:

Students who visualised a parent subsequently rated themselves as less sensual, adventurous, dominant, extraverted and industrious, than did students asked to visualise a friend or romantic partner, consistent with the idea that people revert to a more submissive “child role” with their parents.

So it’s very similar to the post on language I linked to at the start of the post, in that the frame of mind we are in, along with the particular factors that are influencing that frame of mind (like language), have a very real and significant impact on how we go about living our lives.

The researchers had this to say on how this might be useful in every day life:

If people recognize that imagined audiences could influence their thoughts, feelings, and actions, thereby perpetuating patterns that exist in specific relationships and possibly carrying over to new relationships, they can try to circumvent any undesirable effects through a conscious override.

So, just as an example, you could use this research to:

  • Be more extroverted - By thinking about a friend, significant other, or even just a situation that would make you feel more comfortable with being extroverted and outgoing, you could improve how extroverted you are in a given situation.
  • Be more romantic - By thinking of a really romantic time you spent with a significant other or maybe even a romantic movie that really moved you, you can subconsciously make yourself more romantic in the moment.
  • Be more spontaneous or adventurous - By thinking about people in your life that you’re more spontaneous and adventurous with, you can change how spontaneous and adventurous you are right now.
  • Be more nurturing - By thinking about your family or maybe a significant other that you are particularly close to, you can make yourself subconsciously emulate that nurturing, trusting frame of mind.

These are just a few examples that I came up with. If you want this to be really effective, I encourage you to come up with specific problems in your day to day life and create your own visualizations to address those problems. All it takes is a little creativity.

Lastly, something to be aware of is that this works for positive as well as negative visualizations. So use positive visualizations to benefit your personal growth, but also be aware of when you unconsciously summon up negative visualizations and try to replace them with something more positive. Just eliminating that negativety will have an overall positive impact.

Further Reading:
- Mind Who You Think Of

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Find out Why Happiness Levels are on the Rise

11Jul08

US Happiness Trend
There is a new study out that tracks the happiness levels of 52 countries over an average of 17 years.

The interesting thing about this study is that because it covers a substantial number of years and a substantial number of countries, it allows us to understand what factors are influencing happiness levels within these countries.

The researchers had this to say:

Economic growth, democratization and rising social tolerance have all contributed to rising happiness, with democratization and rising tolerance having even more impact than economic growth. All of these changes have contributed to providing people with a wider range of choice in how to live their lives—which is a key factor in happiness.

The people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries, but even controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others.

“The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives,” Inglehart said.

As an example, Inglehart points to the tolerant social norms and democratic political systems in Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada all of which rank among the 10 happiest countries in the world.

“The events of the past 25 years have brought a growing sense of freedom that seems to be even more important than economic development in contributing to rising happiness,” Inglehart said. “Moreover, the most effective way to maximize happiness seems to change with rising levels of economic development. In subsistence-level societies, happiness is closely linked with in-group solidarity, religiosity and national pride. At higher levels of economic security, free choice has the largest impact on happiness.”

So there you have it, countries with more democratization and rising levels of tolerance are generally happier. I don’t think there is anything really surprising about this, it seems kind of like common sense. I think the really interesting part is the comparison. The US managed to rank only 16th, which certainly isn’t bad, but I think most would expect the US to at least crack the top 10.

The leader of the study, Dr. Inglehart, talks specifically about the USA’s ranking in this little video, and anyone interested in finding out why the US didn’t do all that well should certainly take a look.

And for all those who are curious, you can see graphs similar to the one at the top of the post for other countries here (.doc format).

Further Reading:
- Happiness is rising around the world: U-M study

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More Money Means Less Leisure Time

09Jul08

money
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One of the biggest end goals of personal growth and positive psychology is more leisure time. Leisure time is closely associated with happiness and with good reason, leisure is a lot of fun!

We are told every day, both directly and indirectly, that to get more leisure time we need to get more money and become rich. We are lead to believe that when we have enough money we can stop spending so much time working and instead enjoy the things we really love to do.

It turns out though that this is not the case:

People invariably believe that money can make them happy — and rich people usually do report being happier than poor people do. But if this is the case, shouldn’t wealthy people spend a lot more time doing enjoyable things than poor people?

Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman has found, however, that being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things, and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed.

Daniel Kahneman and his fellow researchers found that people with a yearly salary of:

  • $0 - $20,000 spend 1/3 of their time in passive leisure
  • $20,000 - $99,999 spend 1/4 of their time in passive leisure
  • $100,000+ spend 1/5 of their time in passive leisure

Passive leisure is activities such as playing a favorite sport, doing a hobby, or just relaxing in front of the TV.

This decrease in leisure time as people get richer corresponds to an increase in compulsory activities. In other words, the researchers found that the more money people had, the more they had to spend time doing things like working, commuting, and shopping. They found that this increase in compulsory activities was taking away from leisure activities.

The important thing to take away from this is that, generally speaking, it’s not money that creates less leisure time, it’s the things we do to make money that takes away from our leisure time.

So how do we make money while cutting back on leisure time draining activities?

I could try and explain this concept, but Tim Ferriss has done a far better job than I could do with his book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

The basic premise of the book is that by applying the 80/20 principle (80% of our productivity comes from 20% of our work) to our lives, along with a few other helpful tricks, we can drastically cut back on the amount of time we spend on work related activities, so that we can have more time to spend on leisure activities.

Tim’s book teaches us that there is another way to get more leisure time. The study shows that compulsory, money making activities take away from leisure time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cut back on your money making activities. Instead, just make your money making activities more efficient.

By cutting back on non-essential work activities it is entirely possible to retain or even create a substantial income while having a lot of leisure time. Don’t let anyone convince you it cant be done.

Further Reading:
- How Rich People Spend Their Time
- Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion (login required) by Daniel Kahneman, Alan B. Krueger, David Schkade, Norbert Schwarz, and Arthur A. Stone

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How to Find Happiness on Facebook

08Jul08

Smile
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Back in May I wrote a post called Is Happiness Contagious? (which is, I think, one of the most fascinating posts on ImprovedLives) which was all about the research of Dr. Nicholas Christakis.

Dr. Christakis was trying to discover whether having obese people in your social network was more likely to make you obese too, and he found that it does.

But what Dr. Christakis also found is that obesity is not the only thing that can be passed on to others through social networks. He found that many different things like depression, eating habits, drinking habits, and even happiness can spread like a virus through social networks.

Now, Dr. Christakis has started to study social networks on the internet, and he has found more fascinating data on how we influence, and are influenced by, the people in our social network.

So what is Dr. Christakis studying now? Facebook.

Happy people cluster together, the research suggests. And the opposite also seems to be true — so if you are miserable, you are more likely to have miserable friends.

The effect holds in both the real and virtual worlds. People who put smiling photos on their profiles for social networking sites such as Facebook tend to link to one another. Frowners do likewise.

But it’s not just direct contact that counts. The link is significant to three degrees of separation — that is, your own emotional state is connected to that of your friends’ friends’ friends.

Would you hang around with someone who had a contagious version of depression? What about contagious anger, or contagious unhealthy eating and drinking habits? Probably not right. But depression and anger and unhealthy eating and drinking habits are all things that can be transferred through your social network.

On the other hand, positive things like happiness can also be transferred through social networks. In the end, it’s up to you to decide whether you’re going to associate with positive or negative people.

I know that when I think back on some of the major shifts that have occurred in my own social network (like moving to university, moving in with new room mates, or joining a new soccer team) I can see that a corresponding shift in my own personality and emotional state took place. Fortunately for me, the change has always been a positive one, but it could have very easily been a negative one.

So think about who your friends are, or who your significant other is. Do you enjoy being around these people? Do they make you laugh and smile? If the answer is no, then maybe you should think about creating a major shift in your own social network.

Further Reading:
- The Secret of Happiness: Grinning on the Internet by John Whitfield

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Matching Sleep Habits Leads to Better Relationships

06Jul08

Sleep
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Sleep is a severely under appreciated area of our lives. We spend roughly a third of our lives sleeping and yet we tend not to think about it much, or even at all.

This study found that one major aspect of having a harmonious relationship comes down to whether or not the two members of the relationship have similar sleep patterns.

Night owls who are in a relationship with another night owl tend to have a good relationship, as do early risers who are in a relationship with another early riser. Discord is created, however, when a night owl and a early riser are together.

The researchers found that mismatched married couples (a night owl and an early riser) had:

  • significantly less marital satisfaction
  • more marital conflict
  • less time spent in serious conversation
  • less time spent in shared activities
  • less frequent sex

These are many of the building blocks of a good marriage! I think it’s astonishing that such important aspects of our relationships can be influenced by something as innocuous as when we wake up and go to bed.

Interestingly, the researchers didn’t find any significant differences between two night owls in a relationship and two early risers in a relationship. As long as you’re with someone who shares the same sleep pattern as you, you’re more likely to have a better relationship.

For those in a relationship with someone of an opposite sleep pattern

First of all, there is hope! There are two things that are important to people who find themselves in a relationship with someone who has a different sleep pattern.

  1. When the researchers compared matched couples to mismatched couples that had a high degree of marital satisfaction, the mismatched couples actually had more flexibility and adaptability than the matched couples did. So mismatched sleep patterns are just one part of a more complex relationship formula.
  2. Sleep researchers seem to agree that we are not forever stuck as an early riser or as a night owl. If you want to change you can change. It probably wont be easy, but it can be done. The really hard part, however, is figuring out who changes and who stays the same.

For those who are still looking for that perfect someone

Consider adding a similar sleep pattern to the list of things you’re looking for in a significant other. You may end up with a better relationship than you would have had with someone who was your sleep pattern opposite.

Remember too that you don’t have to be either an early riser or a night owl. Don’t label yourself as one or the other and find out later that you’re actually somewhere in the middle.

Further Reading:
- Morning and Night Couples: The Effect of Wake and Sleep Patterns on marital Adjustment by Jeffry H. Larson, D. Russell Crane, and Craig W. Smith

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Ben Dunlap: The Story of a Passionate Life

05Jul08

speech
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This is the story of Sandor Teszler told by Ben Dunlap.

Sandor Teszler is a Hungarian man who survived the holocaust and, when he saw the Klu Klux Klan becoming more and more like the Nazis, used the factories he owned as a means to fight the Klan and racism in general.

One of my favorite parts of this video is when Ben Dunlap is relating how a night watchman caught an employee stealing from one of Sandor Teszler’s factories before the War.

The night watchman wanted the thief handed over to the police, but Sandor merely said ‘he will not steal from us again.’

Later, when Sandor and his family were picked up by the Nazi’s to be beaten to death, the man who was to do the beating was the same thief who Sandor had let go.

Sandor’s former employee got Sandor and his family into the care of a friendly embassy and they managed to live through the rest of the war by staying one step ahead of their enemies.

I can think of no better example that illustrates how doing good and being morally upright can inspire others to do the same. Personal growth helps us become better people, but our example also inspires those around us to become better people.

Enjoy the video.


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Boost Your Personal Growth by Learning a New Language

02Jul08

Language
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Being from an officially bilingual country (Canada), I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn a new language, but I never really saw the point. English is common in so many places of the world, taking the time to learn a new language always seemed like a lot of effort for very little payoff.

This new study on the personalities of bilingual people, however, has me convinced that I should give a second language another try.

Researchers David Luna from Baruch College, New York, US, and Torsten Ringberg and Laura Peracchio from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, US, found that women classified themselves and others as more assertive when they spoke Spanish than when they spoke English.

“In the Spanish-language sessions, informants perceived females as more self-sufficient and extroverted,” they say.

For example, one person saw the main character in the Spanish version of a commercial as a risk-taking, independent woman, but as hopeless, lonely, and confused in the English version.

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t go in to a great deal of detail on how and why the personality change happens, but I have a few theories.

How language can change your personality

I think there are two probable reasons for how language can cause this personality change to occur:

  1. I’m guessing that the change has something to do with the environment you learn the language in and the environment you use the language in. For example, in the study the researchers showed that Spanish women were assertive when they spoke Spanish. So where would they be speaking Spanish the most? At home probably, where they probably have family that they have to be assertive with.
  2. Another possibility is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis speculates that language influences how we understand and behave in the world around us. So language is like a lens that filters our experiences with the world.  What this means is that someone who speaks Japanese will interact with and see the world differently than someone who speaks English. (I should mention that while most researchers accept that language does have some influence on how we see the world   and interact with it, it is not clear how powerful that influence is)

So take French as an example. The way the French language is structured (I’ve been told) allows for much more intricate and nuanced conversation to take place. So a person that speaks both English and French might be more conversational, more outgoing, or more extroverted while speaking French.

What language would you learn?

I think I may take up French. It’s the other official language here in Canada, it’s one of the official languages of the UN, and the conversational image really appeals to me.

Further Reading:
-How Switching Language can Change your Personality at New Scientist

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