The fire within

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As a child, I was always into horoscopes, personality tests and the like. I think that I was trying to find my place in the world.  Due to my dislike of science and math and fear of blood, I quickly eliminated being an engineer or doctor at the early age of five. So I turned to Myers Briggs and Yahoo horoscope to unlock the puzzles of life. Even now after going to college and entering the workforce, I'm still struggling to find what my future holds...

For the Science of Well Being course, we had to take the VIA Character Strength Survey. The 15 minute survey results in a ranked lists of the 24 strengths, which are understood and valued across cultures and nations.  The top strengths are your signature strengths, or those character strengths that are most essential to who we are. I was a little surprise by mine, especially number five, but I was willing to give it a try.
  1. Creativity
  2. Zest
  3. Kindness
  4. Love
  5. Social Intelligence 
In week two and week five of the course, Professor Santos taught about how the things we want--good grades, the coolest gadgets, the best job, etc.--actually don't put is in a better state. (In fact, they often make us more miserable). We are naturally going to want to pursue these items, so she said we should want the aspects of those things that will boost our happiness. Fun fact, it's not your salary. 

When it comes to jobs, it we use at least four of our signature strengths, we are more likely to call our job a calling1. In another study2 if you use your top strengths in a new and different way every day for one week, you experience a happiness boost for the next six months! Don't we need a little of that during these trying times?

Due to things like confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy, I know to take these psychology tests with a grain of salt. Yet, each day, I'm holding myself to the studies and finding that work and life are a tad bit more interesting. Aren't you curious about your own strengths and how you could incorporate them into your life? 

1. Harzer & Ruch (2012). When the job is a calling: The role of applying one’s signature strengths at work. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7,362-371.
2. Seligman et al. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5):410-421


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