Critical review

Positive intelligence

Three ways that someone can use to improve their well-being and position themselves for success

-Shawn Anchor

Summary:

1. Research shows that when people work with positive mindset, it improves their productivity,
creativity and performance.
2. The habit you cultivate, the way you interact with co-workers, how you think about stress, these
factors increases your happiness and your chances of success.

Three ways are:

 Develop new habits:

-training your brain to be positive is same like training your muscles in gym.
-Recent research on NEUROPLASTICITY (ability of brain to change even in adulthood) shows that
when you develop new habits, you rewire your brain.
-Engaging into positive exercise every day for 3 weeks can have a long-lasting and positive
impact on our mind.
-A research done on tax managers in December 2008, by Shawn Anchor to see if he could make
them happier in the worst tax situation. He asked them to choose one of the five activities that
correlate with positive change:
 Jot down three things they were grateful for.
 Write a positive message to someone in their social support network.
 Mediate at their desk for two minutes.
 Exercise for 10 minutes.
 Take two minute to describe in a journal at the most meaningful experience of the past
24 hours.

Participants performed it for 3 weeks. After training both participants and non-participants were
evaluated to determine their general sense of well-being. It is found that the scores were higher
of experimental group that non experimental group. Even after some months, again when they
were tested experimental groups score were even higher than before.

Hence, simple exercise a day helped tax managers to become habitual of happiness.

 Help your co-workers:

- Engaging positively with people in social support can bring happiness.
 Change you relationships with stress:
- Stress is central actor contributing to people’s happiness.
- Stress is not just obstacle to growth but it can be fuel for it.
 - Whenever you feel stressed, divide your stress into 2 parts i.e., controllable and
uncontrollable stress. Then choose any one you want to control and come up with small
steps to reduce it. In this way, you can push your brain back to positive and productive
mindset.

MANAGING YOURSELF
LEARN WHEN TO SAY NO
- In an organization, as a manager you get many formal and informal requests, large and
small, from internal and external customers. And your professional success and personal
well-being depends upon how you manage it. You can’t say yes to everyone and choosing
wrong request is waste of time, energy and money and may distract you from important
work.
- You must learn when and how to say ‘no’ and ‘yes’. A considered ‘no’ protects you and a
right ‘yes’ allows you to serve others, make a difference, collaborate successfully.
- If you are someone who is constantly saying yes to request at work then it is crucial to learn
when to say no and how to say no and yes.

Through the decade of research into what makes people the most highly valued, indispensable
employees at hundreds of organizations. Shawn Anchor uncovered a framework:

 Assess the ask

 Deliver a well- reasoned NO
 Give a YES that sets you up for success.

 Assess the ask:

- When you say yes or no to a request, you are deciding where to invest your personal
resources. So, give the choice the same careful consideration as you make in financial
investment.
- You should ask questions and take notes, clarifying every aspect of request, including the
costs and benefits. The bigger or more the ask, the more information you should gather.
 A well- reasoned no:
- A thoughtful no, delivered at the right time, can be a huge boon, saving time and trouble for
everybody down the road.
- If you do not have to turn someone down, deliver a well-reasoned no. A good no is all about
timing and logic. You should say no to things that are not allowed, cannot be done.
-
 Give a YES that sets you up for your success:
- If the answer is yes, make it effective one by explaining how you think you can help, pinning
down the deliverables and laying out focused plan for execution.