Potential Psychology

"In order to make progress when we're working towards meaningful goals - we need to stop and celebrate our wins." This is my last conversation with Dr Mike Rucker in this podcast series about "Fun and Wellbeing" which is a little sad, but the conversation itself is a cracker. In it Mike and I discuss:The role that fun and pleasure play when pursuing social goals and making a difference to our community.Meaning, purpose and contribution.Finding the small wins in the 'infinite game' of social change.The Progress PrincipleHow to create an environment that helps you collect memories/resources to enable fun.How to make sure that you are having fun even in environments that don't readily allow you to do so.Why working towards meaningful goals and ensuring that you have an aspect of pleasure can help propel you forward.For organisations: how kindness and fun have the same effect on wellbeing and how you can incorporate that into your CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) program. Join the discussion by sharing your

"Growth and mastery happen when you don't hit the mark." Sometimes fun doesn't feel that fun. Not in that exact moment anyway. It's only later, when we reflect on the experience that we realise how beneficial it was to us. This is what's known as Type II fun. In this conversation Mike and I explore this Type II fun, peak experiences, awe and wonder, mastery and the importance of pushing through discomfort to reach the sense of accomplishment and wellbeing on the other side. We also discuss:Why 'failure' is importantHow fun and positive experiences are not 'one size fits all.'The importance of understanding what's positive and important to you as a unique individualHow this approach to fun relates to Carol Dweck's 'growth mindset'How and where to find awe and wonder in order to broaden your perspectives.Where to find avenues for fun but challenging activities to help you take the first step towards mastering the art of fun.Join the discussion by sharing your thoughts via the Spotify Q&A feature! This week'

"We have the autonomy to take moments of fun and expand and magnify their usefulness." We're at the half-way point of our "Fun and Wellbeing" mini-series, co-hosted with Dr. Mike Rucker, author of The Fun Habit: How the pursuit of joy and wonder can change your life.To recap the previous episodes, we talked about:How peppering your life with fun is better for your wellbeing than the active pursuit of happiness (Happiness Paradox).How we can tweak our lives in small ways to find more whimsy.We also explored the PLAY model to understand how to use our time to maximise our opportunities for fun (habit bundling).We look at fun at work - how to craft more opportunities to find fun at work and how to make sure our time off work incorporates fun.And lastly, we share tips on how to get a balance or a blend of both work life and personal life. In this episode, we dive into:Savouring, Relishing, and Reminiscing - these are SAVOUR tools used to amplify fun's power.How to find moments of fun and amplify their usefulness

"If we keep doing what we've always done - we can't expect brilliance to appear." In the 3rd episode of our brand new mini-series 'Fun and Wellbeing,' My co-host, Dr. Mike Rucker and I geek out about whether work can be fun. Feeling like you have control of your time and have enough time each day is a predictor of happiness. It's known as 'time affluence.' When we have the autonomy to choose the activities we spend our time on - at work and at home - our happiness quotient increases. In this conversation we explore:How taking time for fun and pleasure promotes productivity.The difference between 'algorithmic work' and 'knowledge work' and why we need to make the rules of the work game clear.What counts as work and some quick and easy tips on how to change your mindset about it in order to encourage creativity.Do prescribed 'fun' activities at work, work?How to reframe our thoughts, reclaim autonomy, and look for opportunities that invigorate to have more fun.Why protecting and reclaiming your time are key act

"Stack the decks in your favour - make sure that what you're doing are things that you are going to enjoy."In the 2nd episode of our brand new mini-series 'Fun and Wellbeing,' we talk about the importance of wonder and delight and how creating opportunities for fun is as important as actually having fun.Our co-host for this series, Dr. Mike Rucker, happens to be a VW bus aficionado. You can see pictures of his VW bus on Instagram @thewonderoffun. In this episode, Mike shares a fun anecdote about how he uses his VW bus to add a fun factor to an otherwise mundane activity. I then share my experience of learning to ballroom dance and how I went from terrified novice to performing live to audience of 300! We also discuss how we're pre-dispositioned to look for the bad and how to cultivate a healthy 'bias towards fun'.Plus these: What is FUN? PLAY and how to use the PLAY model for changing your entire approach to balancing life and work, fun and toil. Tips for incorporating 'jolts of joy' to experiences to boost

"Emotions, if we sit with them, help us start to understand their purpose. To be emotionally healthy, you should have a wide range of emotions. We can still invite joy and delight even in areas where the emotional state of happiness might not be appropriate."We're back for Season 12 and we're having fun! We're talking about the science of fun and how to make it work for you at home and at work.My co-host for this mini-series is Dr. Mike Rucker, author of The Fun Habit: How the pursuit of joy and wonder can change your life. Mike is a behavioural scientist and a health technology entrepreneur. He is a charter member of the International Positive Psychology Association and a member of the American Psychological Association.You can get to know Mike in this short Q&A.As a scientist Mike made a commitment to implementing the science of happiness in his everyday life - until misfortune intervened and he found himself more miserable than ever. He was left with the burning question: 'If deliberately chasing happi

The Potential Psychology Podcast is BACK! We've been off the air since January 2022 due to pandemic disruptions but the hiatus gave us an opportunity to rejig, reshape and reinvigorate the show and add some brand new features to the show. What's coming up? Well, we have 2 new co-hosted mini-series starting this month: Fun and Wellbeing with Dr. Mike Rucker Next week, we'll kick-off our brand new season with brand new mini series that's all about FUN. We'll talk about the science behind fun and share tips and strategies to boost wellbeing, enhance productivity, build connections, and make a difference. This mini-series is co-hosted with our guest expert, Dr. Mike Rucker, whose book, The Fun Habit: How the pursuit of joy and wonder can change your life, is set to be released in early 2023. The Future of Work with Dr. Joe Sweeney The second mini-series is all about 'Parenting, Education, and The Future of Work'. What will the future of work be like? How might learning change in the future? Will Artificial Intell

"Hope is believing that the future will be better than what life is today and believing that we have the power to make that so."Who else needs to hear that right now?Want to know more? Well, hope is the hot topic for this episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast!We've reached the conclusion of this weekly series "How To Thrive", a collaboration with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod. This series is all about exploring how to thrive and practicing the BEACON model; a model of thriving that Marie has developed to guide us through the simple steps to thriving and flourishing in life. The 6 'beams' of the BEACON model are: •Belonging •Engagement •Accountability •Compassion •Optimism •NurtureEach one has a dedicated episode where we explore each of the beams and how they help us in our goal to thrive and flourish. Make sure you catch them all.In this episode, Marie and I recap of our quest of getting better sleep from the Nurture episode, we discuss our plans and what we're looking forward to in 2022, and

......................................................................................................................................................................................................................"A good night's sleep starts the moment we wake up."We're almost at the end of Season 11 with 2 more episodes left. Today, we're back with our second to the last episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive", a collaboration with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod. We're exploring the last beam of the BEACON model; a model of thriving that Marie has developed to guide us through the simple steps to thriving and flourishing in life.In this episode, we talk about Nurture - the one and only beam of the BEACON model that is about our physical health and how it interplays with our mental health. Nurture focuses on four aspects: eating, moving, sleeping, and being mindful. All of which revolve around, energy.Marie and I talk about: •Why maintaining energy is important in helping people thri

"When we feel a moment of hope, pride, love, serenity, gratitude, inspiration... we actually open up and quite literally. We broaden our peripheral vision and expand our brain."In the 6th episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive," co-hosts Marie and Ellen explore the fifth "beam" of the BEACON model: Optimism.To recap, the first four beams are: Belonging, Engagement, Accountability, and Compassion. They are discussed in detail in the past 4 episodes of season 11. In each episode, Marie and Ellen talk about the science behind each beam and key you in on how each of these can help you thrive as they share practical applications and real-life experiences.In this exquisitely optimistic episode, Ellen and Marie talk about: •How emotions impact our brain and therefore our behaviour •Are some people more wired towards optimism than others? •How we can rewire our brains for a more positive disposition •How our brain is hardwired to broaden, build, and perform better with positive emotions •The neurolog

"If only each of us realized the full extent to which all our problems, fears, and desires are shared by the rest of humanity, we'd all be so much more connected, self-forgiving, vulnerable, open, and free."In this, the 5th episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive" Marie and Ellen explore the fourth "beam" of the BEACON model: Compassion.It's relatively easy to feel compassion for others but practicing self-compassion is more challenging. Why, when we would give a friend facing struggle words of encouragement, do we beat ourselves up for not reaching expectations? And how is self compassion a super power? We discuss the answers and more in this episode.Listen in to hear Marie and I ask: •What is compassion? •How does it differ from kindness and empathy? •Why is balance is important and how do we avoid 'empathy fatigue'? •Why is it important to pay attention to our self-talk? •What are the most common stumbling blocks on the road to self-compassion? And what are the tips for overcoming them? •Wh

"Thriving is not a spectator sport. You can't sit back and watch it happen."This is the 4th episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive", a collaboration with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod. This series is all about exploring how to thrive and practicing the BEACON model; a model that Marie has developed to guide us through the simple steps to thriving and flourishing in life.In this week's episode we explore the third "beam" of the BEACON model: Accountability.This might seem an unusual element of thriving but there is no thriving without doing - and sometimes we need to hold ourselves accountable to get the doing, done.Listen in as Marie and Ellen discuss: •What accountability means when it comes to thriving and why it's important •Real life, practical examples of where people struggle with accountability (because it's something we all struggle with from time to time) •How our personal beliefs impact our goals and motivation. •How to find your "why" to build motivation. •Tips and techniq

"Flow requires us to use our strengths. Sadly many of us don't really know what those are. One of the first things that you must do is to identify these strengths. What are those things that your brain is wired to do, those things that you love doing?" This is the 3rd episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive", a collaboration with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod. This series is all about exploring how to thrive and practicing the BEACON model; a model that Marie has developed to guide us through the simple steps to thriving and flourishing in life. Today, we recap what we learned about Belonging and talk about how we did on our weekly quest. We then explore the second "beam" of the BEACON model: Engagement.We discuss: Deep focus or "flow" and how it improves our quality of life, satisfaction and happiness Does personality affect how easy it is to get into a state of flow How can we craft our lives in order to get into a "flow" more often Understanding your profile of individual strengt

We're back with another episode of our new weekly podcast series "How To Thrive", a collaboration with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod. This series is all about exploring how to thrive and practicing the BEACON model; a model of thriving that Marie has developed to guide us through the simple steps to thriving and flourishing in life. In this episode, we talk about the first "beam" of the BEACON model: Belonging. We ask:What do we mean by belonging?How important is having close connections to others to our wellbeing?What is a Thrive Tribe and how do we cultivate and sustain one?Who gets to be in our "thrive tribe?"What's a micro-moment of connection? And how does it help us to build relationships? Your quest for this week: Find opportunities to create micro-moments of connection and tell us about them!  Are You Ready to Fulfil Your Potential?Download your FREE copy of ‘Creating Thriving, Motivated Teams: A How To Guide’ by entering your details below Want to become a Potential Psychology Podcast VIP? Y

We're shaking things up a bit in season 11 of the show with a new format. I am co-hosting this series with positive psychology coach Marie McLeod - our wonderful guest from our "How To Thrive" episode in season 10. In this podcast series, Marie and I go deep into the practice of positive psychology and wellbeing science, sharing how we live what we teach in our work and in our lives. We dive into what it means to thrive and dissect a beam of the BEACON model, Marie's evidence-based model of thriving, in each episode. We even have do-at-home exercises for you to complete along with us. That means YOU get to participate in this fabulous collaboration too. In this episode, you will learn:What the BEACON Model is and how it helps you to thriveWhat each beam of BEACON stands forWhat we mean by well-being literacyThe history and origin of the positive psychologyAbout finding emotional equilibriumWhy is it important to look for the things that go well in life. Today's quest: What went well for you? How to focus on w

"Go and see a psychologist because you want to be premium" - Dr Jo MitchellIn our world the number 100 is of great significance. 100 is the basis of percentages, 100° Celsius is the boiling point of pure water at sea level, currencies use 100 subunits to make 1 unit, and a score of 100 in school is the perfect score!Today we're excited to celebrate our 100th episode with a very special guest. We return to our roots by welcoming our first ever guest Dr. Jo Mitchell back to the show. Jo is the Director & Co-Founder of The Mind Room in Melbourne. She is a clinical and coaching psychologist who works with professionals and performers in sport, small business and creative industries. She is passionate about building lives with meaning. She and her team at The Mind Room believe that "if people know more about how their minds work, they suffer less and live more meaningful, connected and satisfying lives". As Jo and I discuss in this conversation, that's a philosophy that we share and one that made Jo the perfec

"The key thing is to know if it's in your 'zone of genius' or if you could actually hand that down to someone who can do it 10x faster. Let go of the need for control."In this wonderful discussion my guest and I are talking work and business but not in terms of targets, revenue and turnover. We're talking about being human at work and the critical role that values, connection and heart play in getting things done and feeling good about what we do.My guest is Kristy Smith, the energetic and inspiring Founder, Director & Driver of Virtual Elves, an outsourcing and business support team that serves small to medium sized businesses - including Potential Psychology - to do really fulfil their potential. As Kristy says, 'You have to let go to grow' - a philosophy that has helped me greatly here at PP.In this episode, we talk about: •The long and fascinating history of Virtual Elves and how Kristy was working with a work-from-home team well before the pandemic •What is a Virtual Assistant, who needs one and how

"At its core, this study emphasises that our bodies are important. Anything that gets you out of your head and creating an in-the-moment kind of awareness is a powerful and useful thing. Physical awareness is an extra option and options have value."Scientific research, especially in the psychological sciences, is rarely linear. There is no definitive answer and, as with most things, context is important. This is evident in the conversations that have sparked around 'Power Posing' or the idea that body positions can change the way you think and feel.My guest today's guest is Tom Loncar, executive coach, writer, researcher on leadership psychology and mindset and founder of "Grow Gravitas." In a recent article for the British Psychological Society Tom examined power posing's 10-year journey and the role that it has played in social science research. It's a great article about a fascinating topic - whether small postural adjustment make us feel more powerful when facing stressful situations. But while power posi

"Thriving is not a spectator sport. Sometimes, showing up is enough but you have to hold yourself and other people in your space accountable for thriving. Find the balance between grit and grace. Know when you need to dig in deep or when you need to fall back with self compassion."In this episode of the Potential Psychology Podcast we're exploring the science of what is right about the human experience and how positive psychology can progress the conversation about mental ill-health in our community. My guest is Marie McLeod, Director of Thriveability and the guiding force behind the upcoming documentary, 'How To Thrive: practical guide to happiness.' in which she coaches 10 volunteers with mental health issues to help them learn 'how to thrive.'In this episode, Marie and I discuss: •How the documentary come about - the magic of synchronicity! •Mechanisms and tools that help us get through difficulties. •The BEACON model of wellbeing and how to use it. •Self-compassion and finding the balance between 'grit an

In today's show we're getting curious about psychological flexibility - the skill of not getting sidetracked or bogged down when difficult thoughts, feelings and sensations arise.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potentialpsychology/message To hear more, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com