How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

by Caroline Webb

Wisdom: Strengths that involve the acquisition and use of knowledge, such as creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, and perspective.

Courage: Strengths requiring the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, like valor, perseverance, honesty, and zest.

Humanity:

Justice:

Temperance: Strengths that protect against excess and extreme behavior, including forgiveness, humility, prudence, and self-regulation.

Transcendence: Strengths that help provide meaning and purpose to life, like appreciation (of excellence or beauty), gratitude, hope, humor, and a sense of spirituality.

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS

Analyze some especially satisfying past successes of yours, whether big or small.

Ask a handful of trusted people—co-workers, friends, family—for their take.

Complete a strengths survey.

FIND NEW WAYS TO APPLY YOUR STRENGTHS

consider how you can use your talents and interests more fully in your work,

Apply your strengths in the way you approach your existing work.

Use your strengths to help you embrace new challenges.

PUTTING YOUR PERSONAL INTERESTS TO WORK

What topics or activities most interest you? What do you find genuinely intriguing to read or learn about, without being asked or expected to do so?

How might you make a stronger connection between that interest and your everyday work?

PLAYING TO YOUR STRENGTHS

Identify your signature strengths.

Apply your strengths more consciously.

Harness your personal interests for reinspiration.

Making It Stick

Three useful pointers emerge from the research: reward, remind, and repeat.

REWARD

So if you want a new habit to stick, it’s a good idea to find some way to reward yourself for any effort you make.

REMIND

establishing these sorts of “when-then” reminders can triple your chances of achieving your goals.

REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT

repetition is central to the process of rewiring our brains.

“neurons that fire together, wire together.”

David Allen, the author of the marvelous book Getting Things Done,