Summary
This is the absolute last call for Todd Kashdan\'s
exciting, new class—Positive Psychology 3.0. Already
the class is filling up. The private, class website
is up and we\'re loading Todd\'s power points, notes, references,
and links for videos. The train is leaving the station.
More info below and here.
Andy Chris Peterson, Ph.D. on David and Goliath and The
Good Life.
In
This Issue
1. TIME
SENSITIVE It’s Last Call for Todd Kashdan\'s Positive
Psychology 3.0 (starts 9/30/09)
2. Ben\'s Introduction to Coaching Teleworkshops
3. Main
Article: David and Goliath and The Good Life By Chris
Peterson, Ph.D.
4.
Upcoming Foundations courses.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
1. This is the final call for Todd Kasdan’s
ground breaking Master Class: Positive
Psychology 3.0: Dynamic, Flexible, and Broadened Approaches
to Living Well—Starts this Wednesday, September
30th at 8:00pm.
If
you still haven’t seen the exciting details of this
class, or you want to sign up just click
here.
**We
are also offering you the opportunity to listen to
Ben’s interview with Todd.** If you would like
to hear the recording, CLICK
HERE.
COURSE
DETAILS:
DATE:
8 Wednesdays Starting Wednesday, 9/30/09
TIME: 8:00 - 8:59 pm Eastern (New York)
7:00 - 7:59 pm Central (Dallas)
6:00 - 6:59 pm Mountain (Denver)
5:00 - 5:59 pm Pacific (San Francisco)
International Time:
12:00 - 12:59 am GMT/UTC (Thursday)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
2. Coaching
Teleworkshops with Ben Dean, Ph.D.
I\'m giving
two two-hour no-charge coaching teleworkshops (they are identical).
They will include live coaching sessions and a virtual drawing
for a full tuition fellowship to the Foundations Training
Program. Bring all questions.
Thursday,
October 1, 2009 from 7:00-8:59 pm Eastern
OR
Monday, October 5, 2009 from 7:00-8:59 pm
The
register, click
here.
These workshops are particularly timely for MCP 137 which
starts on Tuesday, October 6th at noon Eastern. Kevyn
Malloy, Ph.D, will be the trainer for this Foundations
course. Kevyn is one of our most experienced trainers and
is also our Director of Education.
For more information about MCP 137, click
here.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Warmly,
Ben
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
3. Main
Article: David and Goliath and The Good Life By
Christopher Peterson, Ph.D.,
Professor of Psychology, The University of Michigan
In
the May 11, 2009, issue of the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell
wrote an essay titled, "How
David Beat Goliath." The subtitle of the essay is
provocative: "When Underdogs Break the Rules."
The essay was ostensibly about a California girl\'s basketball
team from Redwood City coached by Vivek
Ranadivé. He was originally from Mumbai and knew
little about basketball before he became a coach of the team
on which his daughter Anjali played. He was familiar with
cricket and soccer, and from his vantage, basketball as played
in the United States made no sense. Teams simply took turns
bringing the ball down the court and trying to score. This
strategy obviously favored the more talented team, the one
with bigger players who could dribble, pass, shoot, and rebound.
His team was not talented. In a phrase that is too Imus-like
for me to embrace, he described his players as "little
blonde girls" whose parents were computer programmers
from Silicon Valley.
Ranadivé decided that his team would play a full-court
press the entire game, an unusual strategy fully within the
rules of the game. They did extremely well, winning most of
their games and advancing to the championship game. If you
can repeatedly force turnovers under your opponent's basket,
you don't need to dribble, pass, rebound, or stick the J.
All you need to do is shoot layups, and his team could do
that.
As Gladwell is wont to do, he introduced into his essay other
ideas and facts. He cited a study of military battles over
the past two centuries that found that David beat Goliath
29% of the time. That's pretty good. But when the underdogs
used unconventional tactics, they won 64% of the time. That's
really good.
All\'s fair in love and certainly war. But apparently not
in basketball. The story of the Redwood City team had an unhappy
ending. When they advanced to the championship game, they
encountered a referee - supplied by their opponent - who did
not think that a full-court press for an entire game by 12-year
old girls was kosher. (I suppose he had never heard of the
University of Arkansas men's team coached by Nolan Richardson
and famed for its "forty minutes of hell."). Foul
after foul was called on the Redwood City team as they contested
the inbound passes of their opponents. They eventually gave
up their way of playing. They simply moseyed down the court
after a made basket, waiting for their opponents to take their
shot. And they lost. After all, they weren't as "good"
as the other team.
So how should one play the game of basketball? The easy answer
is to play to win and to play by the rules. Appreciate that
there is no rule against a full-court press. But there are
expectations about how one "should" play, and woe
be it to a team that goes against these expectations. Whistles
will blow.
Even though I care about basketball, most of you probably
do not. And that is okay, because this blog entry is about
the game of life. Even though basketball has explicit rules,
there are also powerful implicit expectations and norms that
may trip up a team.
Life is even more complicated. We want to play to win - be
happy - but there are few explicit rules yet implicit rules
galore.
Consider KIPP teachers, who earn the ire of their counterparts
elsewhere because they make unannounced home visits to talk
to the parents of their students. Teachers are not supposed
to do that!
Consider workers who go the extra mile without putting in
for overtime. They are called rate busters and scorned (or
worse). Workers are not supposed to do that!
One of the few chilling moments of my life occurred when I
was a teenaged letter carrier for the US Postal Service. My
first day on the job, I delivered my route in two hours less
than the scheduled time. I lolled about the post office at
the end of the day, feeling good about myself, until the union
representative came up to me. "You will never do that
again," he intoned. "Ever. Not if you enjoy being
able to walk."
One of my colleagues at the University of Michigan teaches
a course that enrolls hundreds of students every term. Every
week during the semester, he invites a number of students
over to his home for dinner, so that by the end of the semester
he and his family have broken bread with almost every student
in the class. The reaction by some of our colleagues is not
acclaim but condemnation. "What's wrong with him? And
what is his wife's problem? Is she a doormat or what?"
Consider those we know who are passionate, who live life fully.
They laugh readily, and they cry just as easily. They hug
us when we need it. They yell at us when we need it. They
never - and I mean never - fail to say please and thank you.
So, how do we regard them behind their backs? We may roll
our eyes. People are not supposed to do that!
Shame on us.
Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain famously said that "No
one roots for Goliath." Maybe. But we don't always root
for David either, because he's not supposed to win, especially
if he finds an unconventional way to do it.
What's the positive psychology point? Be tolerant of those
who do things differently and well, as long as what they do
is neither immoral nor illegal. Indeed, celebrate them. You
might actually learn something about the good life.
Most of you, like me, are a David and not a Goliath. I hope
we all have the requisite stones (as it were) to pursue a
life worth living. It doesn't matter if we have a mundane
job, an unremarkable spouse, or really ordinary children.
Put a full-court press on life!
Chris Peterson, Ph.D., a luminary in Positive Psychology,
is Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan and
Templeton Senior Fellow at the Positive Psychology Center
of the University of Pennsylvania. His most recent book
is A
Primer in Positive Psychology. This
article was first published in Chris\' superb blog The
Good Life: Positive Psychology and what makes life worth living.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
4.
MentorCoach Upcoming Foundations Programs
MCP
138 Wednesdays
31 Wednesdays
8:00 pm - 8:59 pm Eastern (New York Time)
International Time (UTC/GMT) add four hours
Starts Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Faculty: Kevyn
Malloy, Ph.D.
For
more information, click
here.
MCP
139 Mondays
31 Mondays
12:00 pm - 12:59 pm Eastern (New York Time)
International Time (UTC/GMT) add four hours
Starts Monday, November 30, 2009
Faculty to be announced
For
more information, click
here.
MCP
140 Mondays
31 Mondays
8:00 pm - 8:59 pm Eastern (New York Time)
International Time (UTC/GMT) add four hours
Starts Monday, December 14, 2009
Faculty to be announced
For
more information, click
here.
All MCP (Foundations) classes are identical in content.
New
MentorCoach MasterClass
Becoming A Wellness Coach: Living and Coaching the
Good Life
Thursday's beginning at 1PM Eastern
October 15, 2009 - January 28, 2010
For information on Becoming a Wellness Coach, click
here.