What is Your Word for 2026?

Instead of a traditional New Year’s resolution, I prefer to choose a “word of the year” to guide my intentions. One year it was compassion, another year it was

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Using Strengths to Build Well-Being

I’m a big believer in the power of strengths. Over the years, I’ve written many blog posts and a book chapter on the topic, and I’ve taught

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Your "Why" is Your Superpower

As the new year approaches, many of us will be setting goals or resolutions. January 1st is the perfect time for a fresh start, which can be very motivating. But

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Realizing Your Potential to Achieve Success

Adam Grant wants us to redefine success as how far we’ve come rather than how well we are doing in comparison to others. “The true measure of success is

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New Year, New Habits

Over the years, I’ve been adding well-being habits to my daily routine. Discovering the science of positive psychology led me to practice gratitude and start meditating to boost my

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To Keep Your New Year’s Resolution, Make it Positive

Many people set goals for the new year. This makes sense because January 1 is a “temporal landmark,” a day that stands out from other days. This offers us a

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Flexibility Keeps You on Track

Establishing habits is a great way to make healthy behaviors automatic. Habits work well for simple behaviors performed in a stable environment. It’s been easy for me to stick

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Your Personal Highlight Reel

Our need to make sense of the world causes our brains to create a narrative that explains our experiences. The resulting story shapes our personal identity or what we believe

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Two Rules of Habit Formation

Last year I wrote a blog about how making behaviors easy and using cues as reminders can help you create habits for positive change. These ideas are based on the

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New Year, Fresh Start

Are you as ready for 2021 as I am? The beginning of a new year is often filled with hope for positive change. January 1 is a “temporal landmark”, a

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Positive Emotions Facilitate Positive Change

Have you been trying to start any new habits lately? Maybe something that will help to boost your immune system, like exercising or eating more plant-based meals? Or something that

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What's Your AQ?

A lot has been written about the importance of IQ, your intelligence quotient, and EQ, your emotional quotient, for success. A lesser-known quotient, your AQ, can also have a big

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Use Design Thinking for Positive Change

Are there things you’d like to do differently in 2018? According to one study, only 9% of people achieve their New Year’s resolution. We often give up trying

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Finding Flow

Flow is a mental state that occurs when you’re so absorbed by an activity that you are completely immersed in the moment. You lose your sense of self, forgetting

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Self-Compassion Helps You Achieve Your Goals

This week I taught a class on goal getting for greater well-being to the students who live in George Mason’s Mindful Living Residence. I told them about a number

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Create Your Own Upward Spiral of Well-Being

How well are you sticking to your New Year’s resolution? If you’ve been trying to do something you don’t enjoy, you probably haven’t kept it up.

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Piece by Piece

Have you set any big goals for 2016? Over the holidays our family has been working on a 1500 piece puzzle. Looking at the pieces as we dumped them out

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Stop Trying to Be Happy

We are obsessed with being happy. I just googled “how to be happy” and got 613,000,000 results. I admit that I share plenty of articles about happiness on

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Writing a Book is Scary!

I remember listening to an author speak several years ago, telling the audience that you shouldn’t write a book because you want to write a book. You should write

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The Secret to Achieving Your Goals

Sustained commitment is required for achieving most any goal. You can set a goal, devise a plan for getting there, and anticipate obstacles, but the most important factor for success

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Don't Just Set Goals, Take Action

People talk a lot about the value of setting goals. But just setting them won’t get you very far. If you want to achieve anything, you have to take

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Don't Let a Slip-Up Cause You to Give Up!

Did you make any new year’s resolutions? How’s it going? About 50% of us give up on our resolutions by February. Don’t let that be you! Many

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Work Hard But Let Go

ABC News anchor Dan Harris has written a hilarious book called 10% Happier. In it he tells of his journey as a journalist covering the worlds of spirituality and self-help

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How to Stress Less When Making Decisions

We like knowing that we have options. That’s one reason making decisions can be so difficult. A decision is basically eliminating options. If you order the chicken, salmon is

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Move it! Move it! (And Measure it!)

The research showing the health risks of inactivity has me a bit worried, especially since I spend most of my days writing at my computer. I thought I was fine

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