Optimism

Dan Pink got me thinking yesterday.
He posted about Optimism.

Specifically, some thought-provoking science behind it:
--> it boosts dopamine
--> it strengthens your immune system
--> it increases motivation, creativity, and resilience
--> it prolongs your life

And Dan is worth listening to, because he cracked the code behind human motivation a few years ago in “Drive”, arguably the best business book of all time (according to me).

He argued that human action was triangulated by 3 areas of intrinsic motivation – Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose.

Well what if we now take Optimism and triangulate that with 2 other areas of human performance that I would argue are the highest potential-makers in you and me.

Kindness and Curiosity.

We could even extrapolate this across several business scenarios:

The interview process
--> Tell me a time when your kindness improved a team performance
--> How has a sense of optimism differentiated you from your peers
--> How has your curiosity led you to where you are today

The staff appraisal
--> How have you demonstrated kindness at work
--> Give me an example of when your optimism influenced a team member
--> What new workflows have you created with your sense of curiosity

Even the quarterly earnings report
--> Our commitment to kindness means that we have donated x
--> We are optimistic in our capabilities and will increase guidance to y
--> Our curiosity to invent new ways to serve means that R&D is up 30%

And perhaps even your own personal growth plan.

Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose neatly summed up the code of “intrinsic motivation”.

So what should we call Kindness, Curiosity and Optimism? “Inner knowing”? “Potential making”? “Legacy crafting”? “Motivation of Human Spirit”?

Let me know what you think.

And practice kindness, curiosity and optimism today.

They’re all completely free.