Workplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organization

Step 4Start with What's Right(The Optimism Imperative)

I was never a big fan of kickball or soccer or softball—all of the typical activities in my elementary school PE class. Hand-eye coordination or figuring out how to interface with the other players always eluded me. It goes without saying that I was never one of the kids running out of the classroom, excited for PE. Then one day, we did something different in my PE class: an obstacle course. Now, this was something that I was great at—and naturally, I wanted to do more of it. So I looked for avenues to do more of these obstacle course kinds of activities—and that's how I found my way into gymnastics.

I could have kept at those ball sports, chipping away at my lack of hand-eye coordination. Eventually, I might have become decent, but talk about a chore. Instead, I chose to follow my strengths. Within a short time, I was practicing gymnastics three hours a day, six days a week, and competing most weekends. I competed in national and even international competitions and eventually earned an athletic scholarship at Stanford University.

This was my personal experience with starting with what's right, as opposed to starting with what's wrong. It turns out there's a lot of research to show that my experience was not unique. All of us do better when we start with what's right. In this step, we'll explore the power of harnessing ...