If asked in 2019 to imagine what 2020 would be like I could never in a thousand years have imagined what was to be, and perhaps that was for the best.
In this month’s blog, however, we want to encourage you to imagine a 2021 filled with hope, efficacy, resilience and even a dash of optimism. “Optimism?” You scoff. “After the year from hell?? Don’t be delusional!” Well, yes. After all, wouldn’t you rather start off this year believing that you have what it takes to conquer whatever 2021 brings? You could imagine the alternative, of course. Hopelessness, doom, suffering, negativity, helplessness. Mmmm…I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me but that seems somewhat less appealing.
We all need a hero in 2021. And that hero can be you!
Being a HERO and Psychological Capital
What does it mean to be a HERO? It means tapping into deep reservoirs of potential you didn’t know you have. There are four parts to becoming a HERO. A hero demonstrates Hope, Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism. These elements make up the concept of psychological capital, defined as “an individual’s positive psychological state of development” (Luthans, et al., 2007). Having high levels of psychological capital is closely linked with improved job performance, job satisfaction (and by association life satisfaction), wellbeing, health and relationships (Lorenz, Beer, Pütz, & Heinitz, 2016).
That’s right, being a hero is good for your waistline, your heart, and your social life!
How to become a HERO
To develop psychological capital, we focus on increasing our levels of hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism.
Hope
Contrary to what you may believe, hope is not an airy fairy construct for hippies and dreamers. Hope is actually defined in psychology as “the belief that one can find pathways to desired goals and become motivated to use those pathways” Rick Snyder et al. (1991 p. 257). Hope consists of goals, willpower (the extent to which you have determination to shape your future) and waypower (the extent to which you have the ability to see a way to shape your future). It’s the mental process of identifying a desired goal, identifying a route to that goal, anticipating and planning around obstacles and having the motivation to persevere towards the goal.
There is so much at the moment that is outside of our control, that we hope the following exercise will give you something that is just for you – something within your control.
So, how do you increase your level of hope? Not by saying a prayer and wishing for the best, that’s for sure.
1. Goals: Decide on a meaningful and desirable goal for yourself for 2021. Write it down, making sure to provide clear detail, a way to assess once you have reached your goal, and a deadline.
2. Pathways: Come up with a plan that will move you towards your goal, breaking it down into smaller, realistic action steps. Now come up with a plan B – because life does not always follow our plans!
3. Anticipate obstacles: Hope is not for the unrealistic. So be prepared. Visualise yourself moving towards your goal. Now visualise what obstacles may arise to block your momentum. Being able to walk through these steps in your mind’s eye is a powerful tool that has been shown to be quite effective in helping people achieve their goals. Obstacles can be both external to you, or internal such as fear, or poor self-discipline. The technique of visualisation has been well researched by Professor Gabrielle Oettingen and is called mental contrasting with implementation intention.
4. Make a plan: In this final step, make a concrete plan to ensure you are ready should one of these obstacles arise. Using an implementation intention is a simple way to do this. If (obstacle) then I will (plan). For example, if your goal is to go running at 6am every Tuesday but getting up to your alarm is an obstacle, your plan may look like this: If I ignore my alarm and go back to sleep, then I will instead place my alarm across the room so that I have to get up to turn it off.
Visualisation is an extremely interesting technique. It’s ability to shape the brain and train the body to prepare for a specific outcome is incredible and is utilised by many athletes to sharpen their skills. Another word for this is mental rehearsal. Beyond goal-setting, visualising in great detail - to the point of feeling the associated positive emotions - the kind of year you want to experience, can bring you closer to that reality as it prepares your mind to expect it. According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, through this action, sub-conscious processes change the way you perceive and engage with your reality in a way that invites the kind of future you have been visualising.
So go ahead and imagine your goal for 2021.
Efficacy
Bandura (1997) explained self-efficacy as “people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce effects”. So when we have high efficacy we are much more motivated to attempt to reach our goals, or overcome obstacles.
Increase your self-efficacy by:
Mastery experiences: think about a time in the past where you accomplished something challenging, and the personal traits and strengths that made it possible.
Reframe negative experiences: how you think about obstacles and interpret your physiological and emotional response to stressors influence how capable you feel of dealing with these stressors. When 2021 throws you a doozie, pay attention to how you are thinking about it and test whether you can find a more helpful, less self-defeating way to think about it. One that allows you to imagine a successful outcome.
So next time you catch yourself thinking you don’t have what it takes to deal with another 2020, use the tips above increase your level of confidence in your ability to cope!
Resilience
Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences. - American Psychological Association
This is a topic very close to our hearts and we focus much of our work on this area of wellbeing. Read more about resilience in our blogs Armour Up: Resilience for Good Mental Health and Resilience in Life and Work.
With the uncertainty of what our immediate or long term future looks like, resilience is certainly something that we can all do with in the current Covid climate.
Surprisingly, one of the first steps to building resilience is being utterly realistic. This might mean facing the reality that we may enter another lockdown, and being prepared for whatever that may mean for us. Resilient people are practical, and don’t engage in exaggerated positivity and ungrounded optimism that leave them vulnerable to disappointment. They deal with the brutal facts.
Resilient people find purpose in the midst of struggle. They find a meaningful focus that allows them control and fulfilment in a time where so much is unknown.
So what is something meaningful that you can focus on in 2021, despite the possible brutal facts?
Optimism
n. hopefulness: the attitude that good things will happen and that people’s wishes or aims will ultimately be fulfilled. Optimists are people who anticipate positive outcomes, whether serendipitously or through perseverance and effort, and who are confident of attaining desired goals. - APA Dictionary of Psychology
Optimism is a generalised expectation that good things will happen. While optimism can be deemed a personality trait, it can also be learned.
One of my favourite ways of cultivating optimism is by first noticing the tendency to have pessimistic thoughts. Every time you find yourself having a pessimistic thought, notice the thought as well as the emotional impact of the thought. Noticing in itself is quite powerful.
This action can be followed up by adjusting your pessimistic thought by bringing some compassionate and curious questioning to it.
How likely is this to happen?
Am I looking at this situation through a glass-half-empty lens?
Is this thought a fact or simply my opinion?
Could I be wrong about it?
What else could happen instead?
What is a more helpful, optimistic way to think about this?
As you dispute the pessimistic and unhelpful thoughts, you are training your brain to be flexible and find alternative, more helpful ways of viewing situations.
For more on how to reframe your thoughts to be more optimistic, view our blog Armour Up: Resilience for Good Mental Health.
Applying the HERO model to 2021:
Hope: Set a goal for 2021 that is meaningful, plan multiple ways of achieving your goal, plan around potential obstacles and make it happen by visualising it in great detail.
Efficacy: Remind yourself of what character strengths you have to help you face whatever 2021 may bring, Covid related or not. Find a way to reframe your thinking process around your concerns for 2021, and the way they make you feel. For example, “though I have a knot in my stomach and I feel nervous about Covid risks, I know that this is just my body’s way of trying to protect me from a perceived threat”.
Resilience: Be realistic of what you may face in 2021, but at the same time find something meaningful to engage your focus rather than being overcome by doom and gloom.
Optimism: Start to notice the types of pessimistic thoughts you are having about 2021 and gently challenge these unhelpful, fortune-telling type thoughts with kinder, more optimistic ones.
Don’t hold on for a HERO, aim to become one!
References
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman. Coutu, D. L. (2002). How Resilience Works. Harvard Business Review, May, 1 – 8.
Lorenz, T., Beer, C., Pütz, J., & Heinitz, K. (2016). Measuring Psychological Capital: Construction and Validation of the Compound PsyCap Scale. Plos One, 11(4).
Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Avey, J. B., & Norman, S. M. (2007). Positive Psychological capital: measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, 60, 541-572.
Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S., Harney, P. (1991). The Will and the Ways: Development and Validation of an Individual-Differences Measure of Hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570-585.
Blog by Ance Strydom