Applying Positive Psychology at Work

When you hear the phrase “positive psychology”, you may often think about happiness. While happiness at work is definitely important, it’s not the only thing that keeps you going at work, and it’s not the only topic that positive psychology focuses on.

In his book, Flourish, Dr. Martin Seligman outlines his five pillars of positive psychology: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, and Meaning and Accomplishment (PERMA). Using this framework of PERMA, leaders can enable greater satisfaction at work and greater productivity, for themselves and for their teams.

The 5 pillars of positive psychology:

Positive Emotions

When you think about positive emotions, what comes to mind? Often people can list a dozen emotions or so, and then the list ends. But there are many more. Positive emotions can be high-energy states, such as joy or elevation. Positive emotions can be low-energy states, such as relaxation and contentment. We can also have positive emotions that are other-focused, such as friendliness, or self-focused, such as contemplation.