PBDC Participate in Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestling

Yesterday, Donna and I journeyed to Richmond, VA to attend WomenEtc. by RichTech. We were originally inspired to make the trip to see Jane McGonigal, gaming guru and Ted Talk serial speaker extraordinaire. Jane’s life work has proven that gaming is not only has positive emotional and physiological benefits, she has demonstrated that gaming can also be used to improve the human condition. We’ll get to that part in another post. Jane’s presentation was everything we imagined it would be… and more. In the beginning, Jane boldly proclaimed that she would be able to get all 500 attendees to experience the 10 positive emotions associated with gaming within 60 seconds. Believe it or not, she did. So, what are those positive emotions, you might ask? 1. Creativity 2. Contentment 3. Awe and wonder 4. Excitement 5. Curiosity 6. Pride 7.…

Cultivating Curiosity And Engagement

This morning, I stumbled across statistics that show challenges with engagement, creativity, and well-being begin long before people enter the workforce. So, while Positive Business DC’s mission is to use science-backed research to help people improve their companies, culture, and the bottom line, let’s take a moment to see how we can improve the level of well-being with our kids. According to The Future Project, students lose interest in school at an alarming rate due to disengagement, lack of fulfillment, and lack of motivation. (Sounds familiar, right? Research tells us that people need autonomy, mastery and purpose in order for their jobs to be fulfilling. It should come as no surprise that students are motivated by the same needs and emotions as adults.) Disengagement •  80% of students ‘don’t see how school contributes to their learning and growth’ •  60%…

Inspired to Set Unrealistic Goals

The people who attended the January 31 Positive Business DC Meetup at Teqcorner understand why unrealistic goals produce far greater fulfillment than the goals we typically set. Caroline Adams Miller gave several very powerful examples of how unrealistic goals are not only attainable—they also set the stage for achieving remarkable things that change a person’s life in unexpected and ultra rewarding ways. Surprisingly, only 20% of people set challenging goals. How does Caroline approach goal setting differently from other life coaches? For one thing, she holds a MAPP (Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology) from the University of Pennsylvania. Caroline was one of the first people to go through the program. In doing so, she conducted the foundational research on the intersection of goals and happiness. Caroline discovered that a lot of what we’ve previously been led to believe about goals…