TACTICS FOR GREATER CURIOSITYStress Tolerance

STRESS TOLERANCEApproaching the new, complex, mysterious, obscure, unexpected, and/or unfamiliarwith courage rather than avoiding it; there is an interest in taking risks to identify new discoveries and advance ideas along with a high degree of perseverance.

TACTIC | A Curious Mind

What the experts say

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) techniques help individuals pursue personally valued goals and actions. ACT has particularly strong evidence in the workplace setting, with employees reporting stress reduction and enhanced psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is defined as ‘the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends’ (Hayes et al., 2006). Thus, ACT interventions can be combined with mindfulness meditation techniques to allow individuals to be more present in their daily lives, thus motivating them to purposefully choose life directions and value-based actions. This,in turn, avances innovation on both the individual and organizational levels.

What you’ll do

ACT: Values ExerciseIdentifying Values: Card Sorting TaskPrior to beginning the value cards exercise, individuals should understand the true meaning of values. Values can be defined as “personal strengths, or qualities we most want to express in our actions”; or “our personally chosen guide to behavior” (Wardley et al., 2016). To help individuals imagine what they value, ask them to picture their future selves at their own 80th birthday parties. Individuals should imagine what they would like party guests to say about their lives and what they valued. After this imaginary exercise, the value card decks will be passed out. These values are taken from the Survey of LifePrinciples with extra blank notecards for individuals to write in any values that are not listed. Individuals are then instructed to sort the values into 3 distinct piles:

These values are not very important to me

These values are of moderate importance to me

These values are of the higheest importance to me

After initially sorting the piles, individuals will be instructed to pick out their top five values. Participants next write down small, actionable steps whereby they could achieve those values in their daily lives within the next week. Participants are finally encouraged to engage in those values mindfully, meaning that they take note of the different feelings, emotions, and perceived barriers that appear during the valued actions. As a reminder to act with values in mind in the long-term, individuals should be encouraged to write their prioritized values on a notecard and place it somewhere where they will see it daily.

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- Connecting with nature- Gaining wisdom- Creating beauty (in any domain,

including art, dancing, gardening)- Promoting justice and caring for the weak- Being loyal to friends, family, and/or

my group- Being honest- Helping others- Having genuine and close friends- Having relationships involving love

and affection- Being ambitious and hardworking- Being competent and effective- Meeting my obligations- Maintaining the safety and security

of my loved ones- Making sure to repay favors and not

be indebted to people- Being safe from danger- Being wealthy- Having authority, being in charge- Having influence over people- Having an enjoyable, leisurely life- Enjoying food and drink- Being creative- Being self-sufficient- Being curious, discovering new things- Figuring things out, solving problems- Striving to be a better person- Experiencing positive mood states- Feeling good about myself

- Having a sense of accomplishmentand making a lasting contribution

- Having an exciting life- Having a life filled with adventure- Having a life filled with novelty

and change- Being physically fit- Eating healthy food- Engaging in sporting activities- Acting consistently with my religious

faith and beliefs- Being at one with god- Showing respect for tradition- Being self-disciplined and resisting

temptation- Showing respect to parents and

elders- Leading a stress-free life- Enjoying music, art, and/or drama- Designing things- Teaching others- Resolving disputes- Building and repairing things- Working with my hands- Organizing things- Engaging in clearly defined work- Researching things- Competing with others- Being admired by many people- Acting with courage- Caring for others- Accepting others as they are- Working on practical tasks- Seeking pleasure

What you’ll need Mindfulness diary, self-intervention booklet, value card deck.

The exercise will not take more than one hour.

Values for card sorting

References

Cheng, F.K. (2016). What does meditation contribute to the workplace? An integrative review. Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture, 6(4), 18-34.

Christie, A.M., Donald, J., Atkins, P.W. (2016). The meaning and doing of mindfulness: The role of values in the link between mindfulness and well-being. Mindfulness, 1-31.

Ciarrochi, J., Bailey, A. (2008). A CBT-practitioner’s guide to ACT: How to bridge the gap between cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Flaxman, P.E., Bond, F.W., Livheim, F. (2013). The mindful and effective employee: An acceptance and training manual for improving well-being and performance. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Gaiswinkler, L., Unterrainer, H.f. (2016). The relationship between yoga involvement, mindfulness, and psychological well-being. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 26(1), 123-127.

Greater Good in Action. (2016). Raisin Meditation, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved from http://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/raisin_meditation

Greater Good Science Center. (2016). A 3-minute body scan meditation to cultivate mind-fulness. Mindful.org. Retrieved from http://www.mindful.org/a-3-minute-body-scan-medita-tion-to-cultivate-mindfulness

Hayes S, Luoma J, Bond F, et al. (2006) Acceptance and commitment therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1–25.

Hulsheger, U.R. Alberts, H.J., Feinholdt, A., Lang, J.W. (2013). Benefits of mindfulnessat work: the role of mindfulness in regulation, emotional exhaustion, and jobsatisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 310-325.

Ivancevich, J.M., Matteson, M.T., Freedman, S.M., Phillips, J.S. (1990). Worksite stress management interventions. American Psychologist, 45(2), 252-261.

Mindfulness Awareness Research Center. (2016). Free Guided meditations. Universityof California- Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://marc.ucla.edu/mindful-meditationsVan der Klink, J., Blonk, R.W., Schene, A.H., Van Dijk, F.J. (2001). The benefits of interventions for work-related stress. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 270-276.

Wardley, M., Flaxman, P.E., Willig, C., Gillanders, D. (2016). 'Feel the feeling': Psychologi-cal practitioners‘ experience of acceptance and commitment therapy well-being training in the workplace. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(8), 1536-1547.