This quote forms part of my “coaching philosophy” to describe my coaching style to prospective coaching clients. I’ve reflected on this over the past few weeks to check in on whether it’s still the basis of my approach during these strange and uncertain times.
Martin Seligman, the influential positive psychologist, described his “PERMA” Model in his 2011 book, “Flourish”. It includes five essential elements in order to experience lasting wellbeing:
- Positive Emotion (P) – Any positive emotion such as pleasure, gratitude, satisfaction, hope or love is included. It's vital that we enjoy ourselves in the day-to-day, so long as PERMA’s other elements are also maximised.
- Engagement (E) – Seligman describes being truly engaged in a situation, task or project so that we experience a state of 'flow': time appears to stop and we focus intensely on our current activity, deploying our strengths to meet the challenge at hand.
- Relationships (R) – Human relationships are core to our wellbeing and those who have meaningful relationships tend to be happier than those who do not.
- Meaning (M) – Serving something bigger than ourselves, whether religion, spirituality, family or voluntary activity, gives us a sense of purpose and momentum.
- Achievement (A) – This includes mastery of skills, achieving goals or accomplishing other important aspects of our lives.
So, how can we use the PERMA Model to help navigate the current uncertainty or anxieties we may feel? I’m encouraging clients to consider the five elements as follows:
- P – Take time each day to identify people, events or things that give you pleasure. Find ways to bring positive emotions and enjoyment into your daily routine. Seligman encourages us to keep a 'gratitude journal' where each day we note down three things we’re thankful for. A recent list for me included: enjoying a lunchtime run in the warm sunshine; catching up with a contact over Zoom to compare work stories; and making and eating supper with my wife and children.
- E – Most conversations have centred around career engagement and staying motivated when working from home. How can you minimise distractions and improve concentration? Do you still have projects that provide challenge and play to your strengths (or use them even more)? Are you taking enough breaks from work, particularly when feeling stressed or in overload?
- R – Consider how you’re building and developing your work relationships remotely. How can you be more intentional and connect more regularly? How can you take advantage of additional time at home to enjoy the company of family or friends? As boundaries between work and life become blurred, are you devoting enough time to your non-work relationships and being creative in how you do so? Set yourself a goal to video-chat with a friend during a weeknight and prioritise your family over work at weekends.
- M – Can you identify in some way to a cause bigger than yourself? Depending on our role, it may be easier to believe that we're working and living for a greater purpose. However, if we’re quiet at work and feel demotivated, it’s important to find some other meaning to our overall sense of wellbeing. Look to spend more time with family, volunteer or consider pro bono activities or consider “random acts of kindness” (which, Seligman argues, produce the most reliable increase in wellbeing).
- A – Beware taking accomplishment or achievement too far in challenging times. It’s all too easy to get sucked into 'busyness' or work longer hours from home so that we prove our value. How can you maintain healthy boundaries and some downtime from work? Equally, some people are using this “gift of time” as an opportunity to reconsider their careers, values and dreams. If so, reflect on your skills, strengths and values, visualise what success looks like for you and begin a plan to achieve your goal.
Returning to the PERMA Model over recent weeks has confirmed to me that positive psychology continues to guide my coaching approach. In challenging times, PERMA is particularly useful to encourage positivity, hope and 'flourishing' both now and in the future. Give it a try. What have you got to gain?