Positive Intelligence

1. Introduction

In this final quarter of 2022, a new chapter is opening up in my life. For many years now, my work has comprised both business leadership and coaching (among other things). Since early 2020, an idea had been germinating in my heart and mind. This has now led me to the decision to become a full-time coach. With SoberOasis as my platform, I will dedicate the coming years to serving both individuals and organizations in their pursuit of becoming the best version of themselves.

In preparing for this step, I have revisited, revised, and refreshed what I have to offer in terms of skills, experience, methodologies, and training, etc., as well as adding new strings to my bow.

In this essay I wish to introduce you to Positive Intelligence as an approach to enhancing performance and happiness in any context, in the domains of business and/or our private lives.

With a view to being of service to you and your organization, I will outline both the Positive Intelligence approach, and my personal experience with it since January 2022.

At that time, I began the six-week intensive introductory module of a coaching programme called Positive Intelligence – PQ. This had such a profound effect on my well-being that, upon completion, I jumped at the subsequent opportunity of delving deeper, signing up for a twelve-month programme to train as a PQ Coach. Now, more than half way through this process, I would like to share some insights which, hopefully, you may find valuable.

Mental fitness, just like physical fitness, is a very practical and effective means to promote health, avert illness, and to realise our full human potential.

In terms of physical fitness, we all understand that if you want to lift heavy weights and not get hurt, you need to start slowly, exercise on a consistent basis to attain the desired level of strength, and then continue the practice to sustain this level. If we don’t use it (the fitness), we lose it.

In the mental realm, many times each day, we encounter situations and people that challenge us mentally to lift the equivalent of heavy weights. These `mental weights´ range from the extremely heavy, such as the death of a loved one, to ones much lighter, like dropping a glass bottle on the stone floor in the kitchen.

Many of these `mental weights´ crop up unbeckoned and unwelcome throughout the day, sometimes when we least expect them, and without a trainer on hand to guide us. We tend to think of these events as setbacks, inconveniences, bad luck, or even attacks (by others). But in truth, they’re just events, like the pleasant events that are also inherent in life. They just are.

The fitter we are mentally, the less likely we are to perpetuate or even exacerbate our deeply ingrained negative response to any event, – patterns we have been using since childhood. What’s more, wise and loving responses to life’s events are themselves the most effective mind muscle builders, as captured so eloquently by the Austrian psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and author of `Man’s Search for Meaning´, Viktor Frankl: `Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

One aspect of a wise and loving response to any setback is to be open for the possibility that it bears a gift, even if, at first, the gift is the last thing we are capable of seeing or even envisaging. Here, my own struggles with addiction can be cited as an example. No gifts were visible, or even imaginable, when I hit bottom, crashed, and burned. They can be very clearly seen now, nineteen years on.

2. The PQ Programme

While there are multiple ways to achieve mental fitness, some ancient and others modern, the one I’ve found to be most accessible and effective is Positive Intelligence, which helps us:

• Improve Wellbeing: Happiness, Stress management, Self-confidence
• Strengthen Relationships: Stronger connections, Conflict management, Empathy
• Boost Performance: More effective use of mental energy, Improved ability to help others, Enhanced leadership practice, and improved teamwork
  

Grounded in the latest research in positive psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and performance science, Positive Intelligence posits that we can get the mind to work for us, via our so-called `Sage´, or it can work against us, via our `Saboteurs´. Our sage is our true essence; that part of us that is immortal, fully loving, and wise.

When we are driven by fear, the saboteurs hijack our unique and powerful gifts. Thus, `Your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness.´ The saboteurs identified in PQ are: Avoider, Controller, Hyper-Achiever, Hyper-Vigilant, Hyper-Rational, Judge, Pleaser, Restless, Stickler, and Victim. I’m sure most of us are familiar with one or more of these residents of the psyche.

To achieve Mental Fitness through Positive Intelligence, you need to train only three muscles: The Saboteur Interceptor, the Sage Powers, and the Mind Command muscle.

It is sufficient to concentrate on your top two or three saboteurs, so that you can be aware of them, learn to intercept their attempts at hijacking, and then channel your powerful gifts through your sage.

The powers of the sage, which can be strengthened using simple, targetted exercises, are: Empathy, Exploration, Innovation, Navigation, and Activation.

The third component, the so-called mind-command muscle, enables the rapid, and eventuallly instantaneous, switch from Saboteur to Sage, thus enabling us to consciously shape the course of our thought patterns and our subsequent behaviour.

3. The PQ-App

We build this muscle using mental fitness exercises called `PQ Reps´. Daily practice is effectively facilitated by another unique differentiator of the Positive Intelligence Programme; the powerful box of tools contained in the `PQ-App´. For me, this PQ-App is the gold standard for this type of training. with built-in reminders, guides, and community resources to easily practice your PQ Reps for 15 minutes each day, and to learn from and grow alongside others who are doing the same.

Author, Shirzad Chamine, is very clear up front that Positive Intelligence is 20% insight and 80% practice. It is very much a Programme of Action. This is one reason Positive Intelligence works for so many. It’s very simple to grasp and even easier to practice.

Shirzad provides us sound and simple insights that are easy to retain and practice, but it is our ongoing commitment to doing the regular mental fitness exercises that builds up and sustains our mental fitness. While progress is evident early on, this is no magic wand, and we are each the captain of our own ship on what will prove to be lifelong voyage. Remember, `we can’t think our way into a new way of acting; we can only act our way into a new way of thinking´.

4. Saboteur and Sage: Flip sides of the same coin

According to Positive Intelligence, in all of us the dominant saboteur is the Judge (of self, others, and circumstance), and, in my case, the accomplice saboteurs are Controller and Hyper-Rational. I think this is an extremely detrimental combination, but everybody thinks this of their saboteur combination, since for much of our lives we feel, at our core, its impact in the form of drag, stress, and missed potential. Some characteristics of Hyper-Rational are:

• Limits the depth and flexibility of relationships in work and life by analyzing rather than experiencing feelings.
• Intimidates less analytically intense people.

I would prefer not to admit that my behaviour is like this, at times.  But wait! Since the saboteur is the hijacking of powerful gifts, –  the foundation on which they rest, –  let’s look at these too:

• Capable of deep insight and understanding through objective analysis.
• Can be very observant and perceptive.
• Power of great mental concentration.
• Drive towards great expertise in area of knowledge.
• Can be great explorer and inventor.

I am very grateful for these gifts. I love them and am feeling more motivated than ever to nurture and share them. Since beginning to work with Positive Intelligence at the beginning of 2022, my most pronounced benefits have been improved relationships with myself, my children, friends, and clients. I feel less stress, more peace, and my productivity and performance are greatly improved.

More patient and kind, and less judging of self, circumstances, and others, I recognize that while their saboteurs are different from mine, we’re all grappling with saboteurs much of the time. This is called empathy. Finally, life’s events are now neither good nor bad, and in the case of the ones that don’t feel good, I’m trusting in the gift, even before it begins to unfold.

Deeply grateful for my increased mental fitness with the associated improved quality of life, and convinced of the benefits of Positive Intelligence in general, I have now become a PQ coach.

5. Check it out!

If this framework piques your interest, I recommend you take the (gratis) saboteur assessment here and then read the relevant information provided with the results. Then, if you would like to learn more, simply book a consultation slot on the SoberOasis website, and I will be happy to respond with further guidance.

The mental fitness which can be established in an intensive 8-week programme, through which I would be glad to guide you, will put you in a far better position to tackle whatever challenge you may be facing, reach whatever outcomes you have in mind, and achieve the transformation which will take you one step closer to living the life you love.