Joy as a Secret Weapon: How Positive Emotions Fuel Success
On this week's episode of the Building Championship Mindsets podcast, Dr. Amber Selking discusses Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's ‘Broaden and Build’ theory, highlighting how positive emotions can enhance our mental resources and resilience. Dr. Selking emphasizes that stimulating positive emotions not only broadens our ability to identify diverse solutions but also leads to productive outcomes and increased performance. Drawing connections between sports psychology and scripture, she reflects on Nehemiah 8:10, which states that "the joy of the Lord is your strength," reinforcing the idea that joy and optimism are vital for overcoming challenges.
About Building Championship Mindsets
Welcome to “Building Championship Mindsets. | the Podcast!” From the LockerRoom to the BoardRoom, our purpose is to help individuals, teams, and organizations understand and leverage the power of Mindset and Leadership to drive results and achieve sustainable performance excellence.
As a leader in the field of sport and performance psychology, Dr. Amber Selking has been fiercely devoted to optimizing human performance in people and systems throughout her entire career.
Dr. Selking is the founder of Selking Performance Group, a leading performance consulting practice that helps individuals, companies, and sports teams achieve sustainable results. She has served as the Mental Performance Coach for professional & collegiate sport programs across the country including the Denver Broncos, LSU Football, ND Softball, and Notre Dame Football during the winningest five years in program history! She is the Chief Culture & Leadership Development Officer for Lippert, a global, publicly traded manufacturing company whose corporate vision is to change the model of work, demonstrating that business can and should Be a Force for Good in our World. She has also served as an adjunct professor in the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame. Dr. Selking holds a Ph.D. in Educational and Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri, a master’s degree in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver, and an undergraduate degree in Management Consulting from the University of Notre Dame. At ND, Amber played soccer for the Fighting Irish before an injury ended her career, after which she founded Notre Dame Christian Athletes (NDCA) in the ND Athletic Department. She currently resides in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband, Aaron, daughter Elleeanna Belle, and their Doberman Pinscher, Rockne.
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Transcript
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Building Championship Mindsets, the podcast.
Dr. Amber Selkien:This is your host, Dr.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Amber Selkien, where we are in season 15 entitled Sports Psych in Scripture, exploring the intersections of what scripture has to say about sports psychology and what sports psychology has to say about scripture.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So this has nothing to do with where you're at in your faith journey, although I hope it, I hope it strengthens those of us that are on a faith journey.
Dr. Amber Selkien:I hope it piques the curiosity, curiosity of those who may not be on a faith journey.
Dr. Amber Selkien:But in either regard, I help.
Dr. Amber Selkien:I hope it helps us expand our thinking and understanding that things that might seem very opposite are in fact often quite similar if we'll do a little digging and find the power and the intersection of those things.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And so in this week, we are looking at a theory from Dr.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Barbara Fredrickson called Broaden and Build from a sports psychology standpoint.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then from a scriptural standpoint, looking at Nehemiah 8, 10.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So as a heads up at the Selkie Performance Group, many of us who have been following us for a long time know that our heart is really to help athletes and businesses.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So sports teams and business organizations tap into the power of mindset and leadership.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And we do that through one on one performance coaching, keynote speaking, and then resources that we offer, like our book called Winning the Mental the Playbook for Building Championship Mindsets, our podcast that you're listening to now.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then various free resources that can all be found on our website@www.selkinperformance.com.
Dr. Amber Selkien:and if you're interested in either of those, either keynote or one on one speaking, or would like to join us as a financial sponsor on the podcast, you can reach out to me directly.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Doctorsalkinelkineperformance.com and so let's talk about these topics today.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Broaden and build and Nehemiah 18.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So broaden and build is a theory from Dr.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Barbara Fredrickson out of University of North Carolina, who does a lot of research around positive emotions.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And she wanted to know, are positive emotions helpful or are they just kind of a benefit of being human?
Dr. Amber Selkien:Right.
Dr. Amber Selkien:That we get to experience things like happiness or joy or hope.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And so in her research, she found that positive emotions are actually really, really important and really helpful for high performance.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So what she and what she labeled this, her results is broaden and build.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So what she found is that positive emotions start to broaden our mind's ability to identify resources.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So resources could be social resources, like your network, it could be physical or mental or emotional resources, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:That you might not have known that you have or think that you had.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then as we start to broaden our brain's ability to identify various resources, then we start to build on those resources and actually get to action, which then translates to output and to results.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And so what starts this sort of upward spiral?
Dr. Amber Selkien:So a lot of times when we think, we all know what it's like to spiral downward, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:What she found is that positive emotions can actually help us spiral upward.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So an application of this.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Imagine you're sitting at your desk trying to solve a problem, and you're getting really frustrated.
Dr. Amber Selkien:You can't think of any other solution, and you just keep coming back to the one that you had in your mind when you sat down with the problem on your.
Dr. Amber Selkien:On your mind.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And so what.
Dr. Amber Selkien:What this theory would argue is that if you could start to stimulate positive emotions, it would start to expand your brain's ability to identify different choice options, different resources, different partners, different maybe colleagues that might be able to support the endeavor.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Or maybe a theory that you totally forgot you'd researched in the past, but really does apply to the problem at hand that you're thinking through.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So how might you stimulate this?
Dr. Amber Selkien:Well, one would be to go on a walk, get outside your building.
Dr. Amber Selkien:We know that there's a lot of energy in nature, and if you can get out in it, it can start to clear your mind.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Last week we talked about gratitude, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:And how important gratitude is to cognitive functioning.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Maybe it could be you just start.
Dr. Amber Selkien:You take a deep breath, you lean back in your chair.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Maybe you go get a drink from the water cooler, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:Get a cold glass of water and just start thinking about things for which you're grateful.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Get your brain in a positive state, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:And as it does, then as you start thinking about all the things that you're grateful for, your brain will start to relax a little bit.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then all of a sudden, you might sit up and go, oh, my gosh, I forgot.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Three weeks ago, when I was talking to Carol, we were exploring the same topic.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Like, I need to reach back out to her.
Dr. Amber Selkien:I think she mentioned she has a colleague in another industry.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Bing, bing, bing.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:So as positive emotions start to build, it starts to broaden your brain's ability to think.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then you can start to build on it and actually start to spiral upward.
Dr. Amber Selkien:This is a strategy.
Dr. Amber Selkien:When I taught at the University of Notre Dame, I taught human resource management in our undergrad, Mendoza College of Business.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then also to graduate students.
Dr. Amber Selkien:This is something that Actually, before our exams, I would.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Before I would hand out the exams, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:We have a ton of high performers in that room.
Dr. Amber Selkien:They're anxious, they want the test, they've studied really hard.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Before I even hand it out, I'd have them take a couple deep breaths and think about things for which they were grateful or share with a person beside them what was the best part of their week so far to get their brain in a positive state.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And then I would encourage them, hey, if you get stuck on this exam, don't keep going down the path of beating yourself up on this one problem.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Go to the next question.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Go to the next question until you find one that you know.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Get your brain thinking clearly again, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:Remind yourself that you're smart, you're capable, you've studied.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Maybe write something on your top of your exam to remind yourself to keep yourself in that positive state so that your brain stays fluid, it stays able to think, and then it builds on itself to continue to solve problems.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And so what does Nehemiah 8, 10 tells us?
Dr. Amber Selkien:Well, it tells us that the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And so, just like Barbara Fredrickson found that positive emotions, like hope, like joy, like optimism, like happiness, right?
Dr. Amber Selkien:Build upon and give you more resources and more resilience to go about the world around you.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Well, scripture tells us the very same thing.
Dr. Amber Selkien:The joy of the Lord is actually your strength.
Dr. Amber Selkien:It makes you strong.
Dr. Amber Selkien:So get joyful.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Find ways to generate positive emotions so you can broaden your resources, so you can build resilience and you can be who you've been created and called to be in this world.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Thank you so much for tuning in.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Again, if there's any way that we can serve you, reach out to me directly.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Doctorsalking@selkie performance.com and then let us know how you're applying this stuff on all the social media platforms, on X and Instagram, at Champ mindsets, on Facebook and LinkedIn, @Seltie Performance Group, and on TikTok as well.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And again, all resources can be found on our website, selkingperformance.com thank you so much for tuning in.
Dr. Amber Selkien:You've been listening to Building Championship Mindsets, the podcast.
Dr. Amber Selkien:This is your host, Dr.
Dr. Amber Selkien:Amber Selkine.
Dr. Amber Selkien:And from the locker room to the boardroom, I want to challenge you to continue building your championship mindset.
