How positive are you?

Dr Barbara Fredrickson has designed a simple questionnaire to answer that question!

Take it at: http://www.positivityratio.com/single.php

 

 

Go on… it only takes 2 mins. Then come back to me.

 

Done? OK.

 

Are you close to the recommended 3:1 Positivity Ratio required to flourish?

 

Does this surprise you? Why? Why not?

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Marcial Losada is the psychologist who originally devised the ratio 3:1 when researching the differences between high performing and low performing teams. As such it became known as the Losada Ratio.

 

Barbara Fredrickson’s work has served to corroborate this in individuals, as well as create techniques to increase your ratio.

 

One of the reasons we may not score highly on the Losada scale is because we tend to instinctively focus our attention on what has gone, or is going wrong.

 

A simple way to reframe this is to ask, “What went well today?” and list them. Try to find three positives.

 

This also works well when you get home. Instead of asking your partner, “How was your day?” ask them “What went well today?”

 

This has benefit in the workplace too. Often we focus on what’s not working at the expense of the attention we could be placing on what is working.

 

Given Losada established the Positivity Ration when evaluating teams, how positive is your team, your organisation or your schools classrooms?

 

Author: Dan Haesler, he is a teacher, consultant, and speaker at the Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminars He writes for the Sydney Morning Herald and blogs at http://danhaesler.com/ and tweets at@danhaesler