Did you know that the average American puts on 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

And how much do you figure the average Holiday shopper has spent per year for the past 10 years?  $500?  $600?  Try $961!

This year may be different: according to a recent Gallup-Healthways Well-Being measure, the majority of Americans report they are struggling financially at the moment and almost 90% of people think their situation will continue to deteriorate. Our national savings rate has been steadily negative since 2005, a first since the Great Depression years.

Three Epidemics: Obesity, Inactivity, Indebtedness

If the financial news worries you, there is more to be thinking about. In America, over two thirds of adults and 17% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, which costs over $117 billion annually to the country.  In addition, fewer than 20% of the population exercises sufficiently to experience the health benefits associated with physical activity.

Yes, we are observing what are now referred to as epidemics in obesity, inactivity, and indebtnesess. These concerning trends are all on the rise, and there is no sign that they are slowing down. While any single individual may not solve the economic crisis, there is a lot each one of us can do to reverse the obesity, exercise, and spending trends.

Victimology 

What if we first take accountability? We hear about credit card debt and obesity as if they were viruses we could inadvertently catch through no fault of our own. Few people have costly medical conditions that drive them deep into debt, or that make them much more prone to put on pounds.

For the majority of indebted people, it’s overspending that’s driving them into debt. Who spends the money? It is not some external uncontrollable force. It is the cardholder. Similarly, what if we take accountability for the weight we put on?  We have to eat 3,500 calories over our caloric expenditure to put on one pound of fat.  To gain those unwelcome ten pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, that would be 35,000 calories inside 35 days - or, yes, you got that right, 1000 calories per day!  That’s a lot of food. If your arm is easily twisted by family members wanting you to “pound down” - literally - one more piece of pie, keep reading.  This article is for you.

Self-Regulation

Often dismissed as a no-glam strength, self-regulation may be the key to the ills here described. Problem is, it requires work and we tend to prefer the easy road.

But here’s the good news: Dr. Roy Baumeister  suggests that self-regulation is a core capacity with spill-over benefits. In other words, if you can self-regulate in one domain of your life, you can do so more easily in other domains.  Are you surprised that self-regulating in food may lead to better money management?

I have been working with a client for quite some time - we’ll call her Sarah.  Sarah was obese, sometimes moody, and admitted she spent too much. We decided to get her started with a regular exercise program. Here’s what happened.

While Sarah trains, she’s away from the temptation of spending. Physical activity also boosts self-esteem, so these sexy new Versace jeans and that overpriced Coach handbag no longer appear necessary anymore. Her new posture - shoulders back, tummy in, chest out - is working wonders for her.

Physical activity is not only calorie expenditure, but it also keeps Sarah away from food for some time. What’s more, since she trains regularly, her body needs higher quality energy, and so she is naturally drawn to healthier food choices. Better food, better mood (for more details on this topic, please see my previous article Food Influences Mood).

Today, Sarah is still overweight, but no longer obese.  Her spending patterns are much healthier and her credit cards are paid off. The best part? While exercising used to be an act of self-regulation, she now enjoys it and is convinced she will continue to be physically active all her life. (Need to get started?  Try reading my Top 10 Stimuli to Exercise Your Body.)

Sarah got herself out of the national statistics thanks to self regulation and exercise. This strategy may not solve all the world’s problems, but it certainly can address the bad news about obesity, inactivity, and indebtedness - and help us avoid making things worse over the Holidays.  It does require work, but the pay-off may be well worth it.

So how will you approach the Holidays this year?  Will you mentally equate the Holiday enjoyment with a food coma or with cozy conversation?  Will you need to undo the button of your jeans after your Thanksgiving dinner, or will you support the idea that self-regulation is sexier?

Images: Holiday Shopping Cart, Thanksgiving Dinner , Mother-Daughter Hug

Baumeister, R. F., Gailliot, M., DeWall, C. N., & Oaten, M. (2006). Self-regulation and personality: How interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. Journal of personality, 74(6), 1773-1801.

Boyle, M.A. & Long, S. (2007). Personal Nutrition, Sixth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Brooks, D.S. (2004). The Complete Book of Personal Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetix.

Fleming, J., Rath, T. and Conchie, B. (2008). Your Organization’s Survival Plan: When the going gets tough, high-performing companies make sure they double down their investments in people. Gallup Management Journal, Web Edition, November 13, 2008.

American Research Group (Nov 14, 2008). Shoppers Cut 2008 Christmas Spending Plans in Half from 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2008 from http://americanresearchgroup.com/holiday/

Ratey, J. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Seligman, M. (2008). Address at the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology Summit, October 2008.

Thaler, R. H. & Sunstein, C.R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Have you ever noticed that individuals are more innovative, energetic, stimulating, and engaging than most corporations? That is because the systems in place at most companies are not conducive to developing human potential.

Let’s take a closer look at one such system: companies spend considerable amounts of money surveying their employees through some unbiased third-party services to find out about job satisfaction. Yet, this may not be the best measurement to use. To date, only weak evidence relates job satisfaction to work productivity while much stronger evidence shows a positive correlation between psychological well-being and work performance. To cite a few:

- In a two-year longitudinal study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science in July 2002, it was found that while there was no clear correlation between job satisfaction and productivity, psychological well-being did predict job performance.

- Ed Diener’s research shows that workers who report higher psychological well-being also get higher performance reviews.

- Empirical studies conducted by Martin Seligman et al show that using our signature strengths increases psychological well-being. Further studies conducted at Gallup also demonstrate that using our strengths at work increases engagement and results, thus positively correlating the two. As Marcus Buckingham puts it, “our strengths are what Mother Nature gave us to make us competitive and successful.”

- In an article titled Toughness published in the Handbook of Positive Psychology, authors Richard Dienstbier and Lisa Pytlik Zilling explain that toughening interventions – such as aerobic exercise – improve the central nervous system’s resistance to depletion under stress. Toughness corresponds positively to performance in challenging tasks, enhanced learning abilities, and positive physical and psychological health – so performance and psychological health are again related.

- Earlier this week, during an International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) conference call, Dr. Ruut Veenhoven cited reliable experimental evidence that happiness activates people and makes them more creative and independent. Whether these advantages translate into work results depends on whether employees use creativity and independence to benefit their boss or not. In other words, a good employer is more likely to stimulate a productive staff member.

For employees to meet today’s performance challenges, they must be treated as human beings; not just as workers. I am not suggesting here that staff members should be pampered everyday of the week, but I am suggesting that managers need to cultivate stamina – that includes appropriate concern for employees’ minds, bodies, and emotions.

This is not fluffy stuff. This is The Future of Management, and the direction about 75% of the largest US companies have already headed. So ask yourself: is your company fit for developing human potential? Maybe it’s time to let go of the narrow job satisfaction approach and integrate psychological well-being measurements in your enterprise.

Images: employee survey, cyclist racing, performance review

References:
Breen, B. & Hamel, G. (2007). The Future of Management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Buckingham, M (2007). Go Put Your Strengths to Work. NY: Free Press

Diener, E. (2008). Conference call for the International Positive Psychology Association.

Dienstbier, R. & Pytlik Zillig, L.M. (2005). Toughness. In Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 515-527). New York: Oxford University Press.

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. NY: Gallup Press.

Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress. Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 5, 410–421.

Veenhoven, R. (2008). Conference call for the International Positive Psychology Association.

Wright, T.A., Cropanzano, R. Denney, P.J. & Moline, G.L. (2002). When a Happy Worker is a Productive Worker: A Preliminary Examination of Three Models. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science

Have you ever noticed how food influences mood? What should you eat to be alert and persuasive for the big presentation? Or to be a divine conversationalist for the cocktail party?

If you feel lazy after a large cheeseburger, bacon, fries, and ice cream, that is no surprise - and it is not only because your stomach is busy digesting a high-calorie meal.

Yes, what we eat is first processed in our stomach and pursues its road to the small intestine. From there it either gets rejected down or it gets absorbed into our bloodstream and circulates up to our brain. Since our CPU is an organ that is fed by the nutrients in our blood, what we eat definitely influences its workings.

Here’s more detail about how it happens: neurotransmitters are basically the vehicle used to transport information between neurons and other cells. Two important neurotransmitters responsible for mood regulation (amongst other functions) are serotonin and dopamine. These communication vehicles are made from amino acids, which in turn come from the protein we eat. Already the connection is established.

Since the good mood regulators are made from amino acids, it would be intuitive to think that eating a lot of protein is the perfect good mood diet. However, too much protein at once is not the way to go. The various types of amino acids compete with each other, which confuses the brain into wondering how to process all this input in such a short time frame.

Now you might wonder, “Where are the fruits and vegetables in this picture”? Well, you’re right. To keep things simple, let’s simply say that the ability for the brain to produce and store neurotransmitters is also dependent on certain vitamins mainly found in fruits and vegetables.

What, then, is the optimal brain food for good moods? Here are the four golden rules:

1. Frequent meals. Eat lighter and more frequent meals to avoid giving too much to your body to process at once. If you overeat, your body is so busy digesting, less energy is left for other tasks.
2. Complex Carbs. Eat complex carbohydrates like whole grains, oatmeal or brown rice. Complex carbs are “thought to be our most valuable energy nutrient” inform Marie Boyle and Sara Long, authors of Personal Nutrition. They also take longer to process completely, so they will keep you satiated longer and they facilitate a slow release of nutrients in the bloodstream and therefore to the brain, thus insuring a speed that is easy to process.
3. Protein. Include moderate amounts of protein at every meal or snack. Proteins are mainly found in meat, fish, eggs, beans, dairy, nuts, and various soy products. Of course, the daily requirements will vary from person to person, depending on a wide host of specifics, but the recommendation is to have between 10 and 35% of daily caloric intake come from protein.
4. Fruit and Vegetables. Top your meals off with generous servings of colorful fruits and/or vegetables. “Eat all your vegetables!” our mothers used to tell us!

We’ve all been told very many times that we should eat well if we want to be healthy, but the connection between food and mood is more recent. If you are in the habit of skipping breakfast in order to arrive at the office a few minutes earlier, you might want to revise your morning routine. “Try eating a hard-boiled egg for protein along with a bowl of plain oatmeal topped with fresh berries to boost your mood first thing in the morning”, suggestsRegistered Dietitian Lynn Grieger.

This resonates exactly with Martin Seligman’s advice, “Positive emotions are not only indicators but also producers of success.” I would challenge meal-skippers to see if following the above suggestions not only helps you maintain a better mood, but also your productivity level throughout the day. Don’t hesitate to try it out and send me your observations! Bon appétit!

Images: Burger and fries, Eat Your Vegetables Skull

References:

Boyle, M.A. & Long, S. (2007). Personal Nutrition, Sixth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Grieger, L. (May/June 2008). Your Mood: What’s Food Got to Do With It? Today’s Diet & Nutrition: Health, Nutrition, Fitness, Lifestyle, Beauty, Cuisine. Volume 5 Number 2, 60-63.

Seligman, M (2008). Address to Geelong Grammar School Educators, Australia.

The original article is here.

Following is a excerpt from our upcoming book “Profit From the Positive: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know From the New Science of Positive Psychology.”

~ Margaret Greenberg (Bio, Articles) and Senia Maymin (Bio, Articles)

Germs and colds aren’t the only things we spread in the workplace. Our emotions, both positive and negative, are just as contagious. Have you ever walked into a meeting and felt so much tension that you became tense, too? Conversely, have you ever walked into someone’s office and felt so much openness that you started to feel more open and welcoming as well? This spreading of emotions from one person to the next is what psychologists call Social Contagion Theory. Here’s how it works.

Human beings are hard-wired to mimic the facial expressions and moods of those we come in contact with. Sigal Barsade, associate management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, claims we can unconsciously “catch” both good and bad moods. And you can “catch” these emotions in a matter of milliseconds according to Elaine Hatfield, psychology professor at the University of Hawaii and co-author of Emotional Contagion.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden showed people pictures of both happy and angry faces for a fraction of a second and observed how people reacted. When participants looked at pictures of happy faces, their own facial expressions mirrored the picture – they responded with a smile. Similarly when participants viewed pictures of angry faces, they responded with a frown.

According to Hatfield, incremental muscle movements, like the smile or the frown, actually trigger the brain to feel that emotion. For example, when we feel happy our brain sends us a message: smile. But it works the other way, too. When we see someone else smile our brain sends us another message: smile. This very act of smiling sends another message to our brain, telling us to feel happy. So maybe our mothers were really on to something when they told us to quit mopping around and “put on a happy face.”

So what does this have to do with managing your team’s energy? Your own emotions have more influence over your team’s energy level and subsequent productivity than perhaps you realize.

Carlos arrives at the office at 7:45 sharp every day. Two of his employees, Rachel and Mike, like to get in around 7:00 so they can grab a cup of coffee, catch up on emails, and get ready for the day ahead. Every morning they look up from their desks as Carlos walks in. Rachel and Mike have an inside joke:

“We can tell what kind of day it’s going to be around here by Carlos’ morning expression. If he smiles and says ‘good morning’ we know it’s going to be a good day, and we can get on with our work. If his head is down and doesn’t even acknowledge us, we know it’s going to be a bad day and we better be ready to jump at a moment’s notice. When our teammates arrive around 8:00, they stop by our desks and ask, ‘So what kind of day is it going to be?’ and they’re not talking about the weather.”

Researchers at the University of Michigan found that when business leaders were in a good mood, their team members experienced more positive and fewer negative moods. Additionally, if the boss is in a good mood, the team finds it much easier to accomplish their tasks. Remember if you manage or lead others, your moods are even more contagious! Think of it this way: a manager’s negative moods are like spreading a cold, maybe even a flu, in the office. Do you really want people at work feeling lousy and having declining productivity? Or do you want to pay attention to your non-verbal behavior, and be aware of how people “catch” your emotions?

Images: germs, faces smiling, angry, smiling.

How often have you heard someone boast that they had worked 70 hours last week? Were you impressed and envious or did you think the speaker was either exaggerating or inefficient? Why do some take pride in proving that their work is more effortful, difficult, or even painful than that of others? In too many cases, this need to feel indispensable comes at the expense of one’s health and happiness.

This lifestyle choice is not only unfortunate, but worse, it is counter-productive. Exchanging happiness for difficulty could damage your life in the following areas. Read on so that next time someone tries to show off how demanding their schedule is, you have solid arguments to explain why their sacrifices may be unwise.

1. Physical. In his conference call to the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) earlier this week, Ed Diener discussed findings released in his new book, Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth. He explained that happier individuals are also healthier. They benefit from higher immune systems, adopt better health behaviors, and succumb to fewer lifestyle diseases such as alcoholism and substance abuse – all characteristics facilitating one’s success in the work environment. Stressed individuals are not necessarily happier or healthier. People who make room for physical activity also enjoy better sleep patterns and higher energy. In The Power of Full Engagement, Loehr and Schwartz explain how higher energy in turn produces higher engagement and better result.

2. Mental. We know from very many sources - and most of us know it from experience as well - that exercise boosts motivation. John Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain further writes that exercise sharpens thinking, increases attention and facilitates learning through brain cell growth. These are all powerful conditions facilitating success. Giving up your workout to plug in a few more hours at the office on a regular basis may therefore be highly ineffective.

3. Emotional. Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada demonstrated that a positive to negative emotional ratio of 3:1 is optimal for creative thinking, problem solving, social bonding, learning, goal achievement, and mindfulness. Achieving this delicate balance can certainly increase one’s work performance. To do so, most will have to learn to decrease their negative emotions and increase their positive affect simultaneously. Physical activity does both: it decreases felt stress and anxiety, elevates stress thresholds, and lifts mood. For regular exercisers, its effects are not only felt during exercise, but between sessions as well.

4. Social. Back to the IPPA conference call: Diener also discussed how happier individuals are more likely to have self-confidence, leadership, warmth, sociability, and more numerous friendships, all of which are qualities desirable in the business world. When the name of the game is often about who you know rather than what you know, self-confidence, warmth, and sociability enhance one’s ability to be a successful networker and influencer.

5. Spiritual. People who experience meaning and purpose at work – what Martin Seligman identifies as a calling – are more satisfied and more engaged. As such, they are also more likely to produce superior results. Diener’s reserach shows that everything else being equal, happier workers get higher performance reviews and higher income. They are also better organizational citizens – making that extra unexpected contribution – again, improving their chances of being favorably noticed and progressing to further stages of their career more easily.

From the above arguments, it would be reasonable to say that happy and healthy people are more likely to also be more wealthy. But is wealth just about money? Might it also be about health, education, accomplishments, friendships, community, family, spirituality, and anything else that matters to you? In an article titled Beyond Money, Ed Diener and Martin Seligman suggest that measuring national accounts of subjective well-being would give society higher-quality information than does measuring GDP. On the other hand, at the 2007 Gallup Conference, Ed Diener revealed that GDP is about 80-90% correlated with measures of well-being. Christopher Peterson says, “What is valued gets measured and what gets measured becomes valued.” In the near future, we may learn from research whether measuring national accounts of subjective well-being could teach us about increasing a nation’s wealth – whether the concept is defined in broad or financial terms.

Image: Man on books.

References:

Diener, E. & Seligman, M. (2004). Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Well-Being. American Psychological Society, 5(1), 1-31.

Diener, E. (2008). Conference call for the International Positive Psychology Association.

Fredrickson, B.L. & Losada, M.F. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, 60(7), 678-686.

Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. Free Press: New York.

Peterson, C. (2006). Lecture prepared for MAPP students, University of Pennsylvania.

Ratey, J. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Seligman, M. (2002). Authentic happiness. New York: Free Press.

On the outside, busy seems to rhyme with happy. Busy people seem successful, needed and important. Busyness is, after all, serious business. Yet on the inside, busy is often a cousin of misery. We make it through the day, run to soccer practice, shorten our night’s sleep, survive through the week, and finish off what is left on our to-do list over the weekend. It is customary to describe our workload with words like crazy and expressions like “no time to breathe.” Before we realize it, we race through our lives and forget to verify whether what we are doing helps make us into the person we want to be.

We also discuss time in very financial terms. As Ilona Boniwell describes in Positive Psychology in a Nutshell, “We save it, spend it, waste it, we never have enough of it.” Time is now seen as a non-renewable resource, and as such, it is precious.

But is time really our most precious resource? When facing increasing demand, the best response is to augment capacity, not time on task. The Power of Full Engagement authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz explain: “Energy, not time, is our most precious resource… Performance, health and happiness are grounded in the skillful management of energy.”

They suggest a new paradigm, which I believe to be much more interesting than its predecessor. Rather than go through life as if it were a marathon, they recommend we approach it as a series of sprints. The focus shifts from managing our time more efficiently with fancy blackberries and ever-shorter email strategies to managing our energy more effectively, avoiding both over and underuse. In an economy driven by the innovative capacity of its workers, rather than making our mind the sole contributor to work and performance, their model recognizes that energy comes from four separate but related sources: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Neglecting one source will have repercussions on the others. Mind and body are one – as they are in real life.

To build capacity, they recommend we strive to push beyond our known limits, thus setting them further back, which is the exact technique athletes of many disciplines have used for years and years. Following the effort, rest is necessary, not only for our subjective benefit, but also for our body and brain to process and register the information that a new boundary was established. Downtime is no longer an unproductive indulgence, but a necessary procedure that prepares us for the next effort. While this equilibrium seems very much intuitive, it uncovers the less obvious conclusion that constant busyness impedes greatness.

I believe this new approach deserves consideration. If there is a small voice inside that is begging you for a rest, pay attention. You will engage and perform better after recovery. If you score high on the strengths of perseverance and achievement, learn to celebrate downtime – it’s your best ally!

For me, Mother Nature is most spectacular when the imposing structure of mountains meets the stillness of a water source. Likewise, peaks and valleys are equally necessary to make life optimally beautiful.

Images: Clock Ticking.

References:
Boniwell, I. (2006). Positive Psychology in a Nutshell. London: PWBC. Quote used above: p. 56.
Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. Free Press: New York. Quote used above: pp. 3-5.