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The first topic field that we draw upon within the Psychology of Success is the traditional discipline of psychology, the scientific study of the mind and our resulting behavior. This topic is well over 100 years old and has produced a wealth of invaluable knowledge about how we think, act and differ from person to person. A real benefit is that the findings of this discipline are grounded with robust scientific data - thorough research has made sense of what had been otherwise subjective observations.
It is interesting to know the history that shaped the path of this discipline. It was after World War II that a large number of soldiers were returning home, 'broken' from the horrific experiences of battle. The United States government spent vast amounts studying how to fix the soldiers, in effect how to make these miserable people less miserable. As a result, by the turn of the millennium for every one study there was on how to optimize the performance of healthy individuals, there were 21 studies on how to fix `broken' people. The world has therefore learnt a lot about things like fighting depression, or reducing anxiety, but these have distracted from studying happiness and success.
Fortunately, in 1998 psychology took a fresh direction, with the head of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, highlighting this 21:1 ratio and suggesting that a change of focus was considered necessary. Rather than focus on fixing what was wrong, we could instead look at how to thrive. At that point Positive Psychology was born, a subject that studies human potential, looks at how to improve our lives and enable people to become happier and more fulfilled.
Of special relevance to the Psychology of Success is the research into what makes us genuinely fulfilled. Why? Because our success in life cannot in fact be thought to be a real success if the achievement of our goals makes us miserable. It is critical that we know what is importance to us in life and therefore worthy of where we place our efforts and time before committing ourselves to taking major action. It's extremely valuable to understand which basket you should be `placing your eggs into'.
The third discipline that we've drawn upon for the Psychology of Success is the field of motivational coaching. Over the years motivational coaches have popularized methods from the topic of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which is a technique of alternative therapy that adapts our experiences and changes our perceptions of them. While these methods do not have the scientific validity of traditional psychology behind them, having utilized these with over 1,500 individuals we've observed that they evidently do have a big impact.
One of the problems with motivational coaching techniques on their own is that regularly focus on firing us up to accomplish things like great wealth, which culture teaches us will make us happy. Because of the revelations that have come from science, most notably in recent years from Positive Psychology, we clearly see that wealth doesn't bring happiness. So the benefit of combining motivational coaching with traditional psychology and Positive Psychology is that you have a better balance mixture of science and powerful motivational techniques.
The fourth discipline we draw upon in the Psychology of Success is the field of sports psychology. This field of psychology is committed helps amateur and skilled sportsmen and women reach the summit of their personal sporting abilities. While this discipline is more focused on how athletes can become sporting champions, there are some beneficial lessons that can be applied far more broadly to help you to reach that 'gold medal' in your own goals.
Through combining these four disciplines the Psychology of Success will guide you to identify what success looks like for you, give you practical ways to achieve your goals and show you how to overcome obstacles along the way.
