Potential Psychology

"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 important


• How fun and positive experiences are not 'one size fits all.'


• The importance of understanding what's positive and important to you as a unique individual


• How 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's point to ponder:

How can you add fun as an ingredient to your more challenging tasks and situations?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

PLAY Model

What is Type II fun? Article in the Washington Post

Episode 3 - Fun & Wellbeing - How to Amplify Fun's Power

Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization by Scott Barry Kaufman

The Fun Scale

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Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "Thriving Post Pandemic."

One hour of video lessons with downloadable planner to help you shift from surviving to thriving.

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If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a 5-star rating over at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Want to hear more? It's all at potential.com.au/podcast

Check out our Potential Psychology YouTube Channel here

"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 in order to enhance your wellbeing.


• The tools that help us savor, relish, and reminisce.


• The importance of preserving tangible mementos to take us back to fun moments


• How to create a repository of fun memories such as a memory garden, and


• Unpacking bittersweet experiences to uncover their fun

Join the discussion by sharing your thoughts via the Spotify Q&A feature!

This week's point to ponder:

How do you amplify fun’s power in your life?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "Thriving Post Pandemic."

One hour of video lessons with downloadable planner to help you shift from surviving to thriving.

*****************************

If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a 5-star rating over at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Feedback? We want to hear from you. Email [email protected]

Want to hear more? It's all at potential.com.au/podcast

Check out our Potential Psychology YouTube Channel here

"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 activities for increasing your fun quotient.

Join the discussion by sharing your thoughts via the Spotify Q&A feature!

This week's point to ponder:

Do you have fun with your work tasks? Tell us about it!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

How to Thrive: Optimism and Creating Jolts of Joy

John Cleese on Creativity in Management - You Tube

Time Poverty & Time Affluence

Having Too Little or Too Much Time is Linked to Lower Subjective Well-Being
Sharif, Marissa, Cassie Mogilner, and Hal Hershfield (2021), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Giving Time Gives You Time
Mogilner, Cassie, Zoë Chance, and Michael I. Norton (2012), "Giving Time Gives You Time," Psychological Science

Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention
Mogilner, Cassie, Jennifer L. Aaker, and Ginger L. Pennington (2008), “Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention,” Journal of Consumer Research

What Do Happy People Do?
Robinson, J.P., Martin, S. What Do Happy People Do?. Soc Indic Res 89, 565–571 (2008).

Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit potentialpsychology.substack.com

"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 energy and maximise fun's benefits.


• Ways to incorporate a “bias toward fun” into every aspect of life and some exercises to help you reconnect to wonder, delight and your natural playfulness.

Join the discussion by sharing your thoughts via the Spotify Q&A feature!

This week's point to ponder:

Which of life's activities will you swap out for more fun?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

How to Thrive: Optimism and Creating Jolts of Joy

The Rucker PLAY model

Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "Thriving Post Pandemic".

One hour of video lessons with downloadable planner to help you shift from surviving to thriving.

*****************************

If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a 5-star rating over at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Feedback? We want to hear from you. Email [email protected]

Want to hear more? It's all at potential.com.au/podcast

Check out our Potential Psychology YouTube Channel here

"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 happiness made me miserable, where do I turn?'

His answer? To have fun. Mike says that, unlike happiness, fun isn’t a subjective condition that might arise under the right circumstances. Having fun is something you can engage in almost anywhere, anytime. It’s also enormously beneficial, physically and psychologically.

In this episode, Mike and I explore:

• The 'happiness paradox'. What is it and how does it stop us from living our best life? And what should we seek instead of happiness for better wellbeing?


• How sitting with your thoughts can lead to better emotional health and reframe our understanding of happiness.


• How autonomy can help us reclaim the lost art of fun and wonder.


• The science of fun (yes, it's a science), its components (fascinating!) and how Mike's book came to be.

You can now join the discussion! Share your thoughts via the Q&A feature on Spotify.

This week's point to ponder:

What ideas do you have for incorporating more fun and whimsy into your life?

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

Mike's book: The Fun Habit: How the pursuit of joy and wonder can change your life.

A wandering mind is not a happy mind - Killingsworth & Gilbert

*****************************

Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "Thriving Post Pandemic."

One hour of video lessons with downloadable planner to help you shift from surviving to thriving.

*****************************

If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a 5-star rating over at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Feedback? Email [email protected]

Want to hear more? It's all at potential.com.au/podcast

Check out our

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 Intelligence, Machine Learning, robotics and automation make jobs disappear? We'll be answering your burning questions in this mini-series which I will be co-hosting with a dear friend of the show, Dr. Joe Sweeney (Joe was on episode 17 and 79). Joe has done a lot of research into the subject and his day job involves finding innovations in the workplace. You can help our ongoing research by sharing your two cents on what you think the future of work might be like, here. 

As for the exciting new features of the Potential Psychology Podcast: 

You now have the ability to make this a two-way conversation with the new direct chat feature via the Q&A feature on Spotify. If listen to the show on Spotify, look for the Q&A button on the episode page. 

PLUS bonus content will soon be available for our subscribers in the new VIP subscriber feature. This could include early releases, archived content, Q&A episodes, video podcasts. There are so many options so please, test out the Q&A function for this episode on Spotify or Anchor.fm and answer the first audience question: What special subscriber content would you like as a VIP member of the Potential Psychology Podcast? 

To sign up as a subscriber via Spotify or Anchor.fm, the link is https://anchor.fm/potentialpsychology/subscribe 

For more information on subscriber-only podcast episodes, visit https://blog.anchor.fm/paid-subscriptions#listeners

***************************** 

Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "Thriving Post Pandemic". 

One hour of video lessons with downloadable planner to help you shift from surviving to thriving. 

***************************** 

If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a 5-star rating over at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Feedback? We want to hear from you. Email [email protected] 

Check out our YouTube Channel here