1 – 7
Now add the scores for your answers. The average score is 50, the high score is 75 and the low score is 25 or below. If your score is below 40, you are on the satisficing end of the scale. If you scored 65 and above, it is likely you have maximizing type behaviors that may impact your wellbeing. Consider some of the strategies to increase satisficing listed below.
Strategies to Increase Satisficing
To make choices versus simply have choices means to be able to reflect on what makes a decision important, what makes particular choice say about you, or even create new options if no good options are available. To practice these skills, try the following:
To generally do more satisficing, try the following:
Reflect on what pursuing all the available opportunities costs you:
Imagine there is no going back. Make your decision irreversible and final to limit the amount of time you waste processing the alternatives:
Practice attitude of gratitude and being grateful for what you have and the good aspects of the choices you have made and resolve not to ruminate what was bad about them:
Having regrets can influence our ability to make a decision to a point of us avoiding to make them. Make an effort to minimize regret where appropriate:
Adaptation, also known as the hedonic treadmill, robs us of satisfaction we can get from a positive experience. Combat adaptation and develop realistic expectations about how experiences change over time:
Lower your expectations. Our satisfaction with experiences is determined to a large extent by our expectations. To increase satisfaction with results, try the following:
Beware of social comparisons. Practice not comparing yourself to others as quality of experience can be significantly reduced by comparing yourself to others:
Appreciate constrains. Our freedom of choice and ability to decide decreases as our options increase. Our society provides rules by which we are limited in forms of laws and norms of behavior.
Homework : Ask the client to practice one or more techniques of satisficing throughout the week.
Clinician notes : Repetition just like regular reminders can aid the client in creating lasting change. Together repetitive action and repetition create ritual over time. Encourage clients to build new positive habits of thinking and behaving.
The Positive Psychology Toolkit© is a groundbreaking practitioner resource containing over 500 science-based exercises , activities, interventions, questionnaires, and assessments created by experts using the latest positive psychology research.
Updated monthly. 100% Science-based.
“The best positive psychology resource out there!” — Emiliya Zhivotovskaya , Flourishing Center CEO
Goal : The notion of counting one’s blessings and enduring thankfulness is discussed, gratitude exercise is introduced, and blessings journal is assigned.
Tool : Three Good Things and Gratitude Visit
Rationale : Extensive research shows that enduring thankfulness has many health benefits (Emmons, 2007). In one clinical study, the gratitude condition participants reported significantly better mental health than those in the expressive and control conditions.
This session introduces the client to the practice of gratitude by counting one’s blessings daily and planning a gratitude visit. Clients are also asked to keep a gratitude journal between sessions.
Three Good Things
Before going to bed, write about three good things that happened to you that day. Reflect on those good things by answering the following questions:
Gratitude Visit
Gratitude is oriented toward others. Think of a person to whom you would like to express gratitude. Write a letter to them. Try to be specific in describing the way in which their actions have made an important difference in your life. When finished, arrange a visit with that person without explaining the purpose. Try to make it as casual as possible.
When you see them after you settle in, read your letter slowly, with expression and eye contact. And allow the other person to react unhurriedly. Reminisce about the times and specific events that made that person important to you.
Homework : Blessings journal is assigned, and client is asked to write about three good things that happened that day before bedtime every night for a week in a way that was introduced during the session.
Suggest that clients socialize with more people who are grateful and observe if that improves their mood. People who are thankful have a language of future, abundance, gifts, and satisfaction.
You can also ask clients to find ways to express gratitude directly to another person. While doing so, ask them to avoid saying just thank you and express gratitude in concrete terms.
Clinician notes : Considerable effort and time to manage the logistics are required to write a letter and arrange a visit. Be sure to provide clients adequate time and support to complete this practice over the course of therapy. You can discuss the timeline, periodically remind them, and even encourage clients to read their Gratitude Letters so they can make changes and rehearse the experience of writing it and reading it out loud.
Be sure clients have the opportunity to share their experiences of the Gratitude Visit.
Goal : One Door Closes, One Door Opens exercise is introduced and the client is encouraged to reflect on three doors that closed and what opportunities for growth it offered.
Tools : One Door Closes, One Door Opens, and Learning Optimism prompts
Rationale : Essentially, hope is the perception that one can reach the desired goals (Snyder, 1994). Hopeful thinking comes down to cultivating the belief that one can find and use pathways to desired goals (Snyder, Rand, & Sigmond, 2002).
Optimism can be learned and can be cultivated by explaining setbacks in a way that steers clear of catastrophizing and helplessness. Optimistic people see bad events as temporary setbacks and explain good events in terms of permanent causes such as traits or abilities.
Optimists also tend to steer away from sweeping universal explanations for events in their lives and don’t allow helplessness to cut across other aspects of their lives (Seligman, 1991).
Painful experiences can be re-narrated as it is the client who gets to say what it all means. Like a writer, a sculptor or a painter the client can re-create his or her life story from a different perspective, allow it to take a different shape and incorporate light into the dark parts of their experience.
Think of times when you failed to get a job you wanted or when you were rejected by someone you loved. When one door closes, another one almost always opens. Reflect and write about three doors that closed and what opportunities for growth it offered. Use the following questions to help with your reflections:
Learning Optimism
Think of something that happened recently that negatively impacted your life. Explore your beliefs about the adversity to check for catastrophizing.
Homework : As a weekly exercise explain and write down your broad outlook on life in one or two sentences and then monitor if daily stressors have an impact on your overall perspective. If so, brainstorm ways to help your perspective remain constant.
Alternatively, to practice hope, ask the client to reflect on one or two people who helped to open the doors or who held the opened doors for them to enter.
And to practice optimism, ask the client to help a friend with a problem by encouraging him or her to look for the positive aspects of the situation.
Clinician notes : The benefits of optimism are not unbounded, but they do free us to achieve the goals we set. Our sense of values or our judgment is not eroded by learning optimism , it is enhanced by it.
Suggest to your clients that if rumination keeps showing up, they consider positive distraction and volunteer the time they normally spend analyzing problems to endeavors that make an impact on the world. Not only will they distract themselves in a positive way but may also gain a much-needed perspective on their problems.
Goal : Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is introduced and practiced through writing therapy.
Tool : Expressive Writing
Rationale : Many patients following trauma develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but many also experience Posttraumatic Growth (PTG). Without minimizing the pain and while respecting clients’ readiness, exploration of the possibility for growth from trauma can help them gain insight into the meaning of life and the importance of relationships.
Research shows that PTG can lead clients to:
Positive reinterpretation, problem-focused coping, and positive religious coping facilitate PTG. Although time itself doesn’t influence PTG as it remains stable over time, intervening events and processes do facilitate growth.
James Pennebaker’s strategy, known as the Writing Therapy, showed that writing about a traumatic or upsetting experience can improve people’s health and wellbeing (Pennebaker, & Evans, 2014).
While assuring complete confidentiality, clients are asked to write for 15 to 30 minutes for three to five consecutive days about one of their most distressing or traumatic life experiences in detail and to fully explore their personal reactions and deepest emotions.
Using a note pad or journal, please write a detailed account of a trauma you experienced. In your writing, try to let go and explore your deepest thoughts and feelings about the traumatic experience in your life. You can tie this experience to other parts of your life, or keep it focused on one specific area.
Continue to write for at least 15 to 20 minutes a day for four consecutive days. Make sure you keep your writings in a safe, secure place that only you have access to. You can write about the same experience on all four days or you can write about different experiences.
At the end of four days, after describing the experience, please write if the experience has helped you with the following:
Some reactions to the trauma, adversity, or losses can be so strong that we deliberately avoid associated feelings.
Homework : Ask the client to continue writing for three more consecutive days for 15 to 30 minutes each time. Remind the client to make sure to keep their writings in a safe, secure place that only he or she has access to. They can write about the same experience on all four days or they can write about different experiences.
Clinician notes : To better understand the context in which clients are living, the practitioner should continue discussing therapeutic changes with clients without necessarily asking about growth. It also helps to accept the fact that it may be difficult to pinpoint the start and end that marks when growth from trauma occurs.
Focusing on themes of change may help identify when additional support is needed to amplify PTG while keeping in mind that some clients for reasons outside of their control will not continue to experience long-term growth.
Goal : Tendencies toward busy behavior are assessed and savoring exercise is assigned based on the client’s preference and strategies to safeguard against adaptations are discussed.
Tool : Busy Behavior Assessment and Savoring Techniques
Rationale : According to Carl Honoré (2004), we live in a multitasking era where we have become addicted to speed. Evidence shows that people who are cognitively busy are also more likely to act selfishly, use sexist language, and make erroneous judgment in social situations.
On the other hand, research also shows that when people are in a relaxed state, the brain slips into a deeper, richer, more nuanced mode of thought (Kahneman, 2011). Psychologists actually call this “Slow Thinking,” and one method for achieving this cognitive state it to practice what is known as savoring .
Fred Bryant, a pioneer in savoring, defines it as a mindful process of attending to and appreciating the positive experiences in one’s life (2003). Bryant describes four types of savoring: basking, thanksgiving, marveling, and luxuriating. Research shows that savoring fosters:
Savoring requires effort that involves deliberately working against the pressures to multitask. Learning to savor requires time and becomes more natural the more we practice it.
Kinds of Savoring Experiences:
Reflect on whether or not you find yourself constantly busy and how this manifest in your daily life by answering the following questions:
Savoring Techniques
Practice the following strategies to increase savoring. All of the strategies to slow down mentioned here require active engagement. Select one or two of the following Savoring Techniques:
Brainstorm specific actions you will take to practice one or more of these techniques and think about who will support you or what can inhibit your progress.
Discussion questions : When, where, and how frequently can you use it to increase positive emotions in your daily life?
Homework : Pick a favorite or a different savoring technique and practice it between sessions. Reflect and write your personal list of actions which can sustain and enhance savoring.
Clinician notes : Savoring requires practice and some clients may struggle with savoring practices because they overthink the experience which tends to interfere with their ability to notice and attend to their senses.
The focus of the Savoring practices is positive but if the clients are feeling distressed, see if they are able to put aside their negative thoughts and feelings by using the diversion strategy from Session Five: Open and Closed Memories to optimally benefit from this exercise.
Clients should attend mindfully to all aspects of a savoring experience, including its cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects. However, tuning in too much to feelings or thoughts may backfire and could interfere, eventually dampening the savoring experience so encourage the client to monitor their experiences for adaptation.
Goal : Seeing best in others and developing strategies for cultivation of positive relationships
Tool : Strength Spotting Exercise
Rationale : Recognizing the strengths of one’s loved ones has been proven to have significant positive benefits on relationships and wellbeing of those who practice it actively.
Understanding one another’s strengths foster a greater appreciation for each person’s intentions and actions and promote empathy. Ultimately, positive relationships buffer us against stress. The central positive psychotherapy (PPT) practice covered in this session is learning to see strengths in others and creating a Tree of Positive Relationships.
Answer the following questions about people you have close relationships with:
Homework : If practical, ask your family and friends to take the VIA strengths survey. Create a Tree of Positive Relationships to help you and people you are close to gain greater insight into each other’s strengths.
Encourage clients to have uninterrupted, quality conversations with their loved ones at least once per week.
Clinician notes : To maintain progress, suggest that clients brainstorm a way to celebrate each other’s strengths. Suggest they focus on bonding activities that establish communication patterns, routines, and traditions both through daily, casual ways of enjoying each other’s company as well as more elaborate planned celebrations and vacations.
Goal : Positive communication is addressed through learning about Active Constructive Responding and client is encouraged to look for opportunities to practice.
Tool : Active Constructive Responding (ACR)
Rationale : Shelly Gable and her colleagues found that sharing and responding positively to good events in our lives increases relationship satisfaction and strengthens our bonds (2004). When we capitalize on positive events in our lives by allowing others to partake in the good news not only do we amplify it, but also increase feelings of being valued and validated.
Read carefully the following descriptions of different styles of responding to good news. Check off which type of responses you identify with most of the time.
Now let us try ACR in session. We will take turns sharing good news and then allowing the other person to respond. Think of something positive and recent that happened to you and tell me about it.
Homework : Ask the client to practice ACR beyond his intimate relationships and use it with family member and friends.
Clinician notes : If the client is proficient in ACR, consider expanding the practice of positive communication into positive affirmations where partners offer each other words and actions that confirm the partners’ beliefs about themselves and behave in ways that are congruent with their partner’s ideal self (Drigotas, 2002).
Ask the client to practice perceptual affirmations where partners’ general view of each other is aligned with their ideal self, where we perceive our partners as trying their best, where we are forgiving of shortcoming and sympathize with the pain of failure, and finally, where we shine the light on qualities.
Ask the client to also practice behavioral affirmations where partners elicit behaviors that are in congruence with the other person’s ideal selves as well as create opportunities for expression of those ideal selves while decreasing situations that can negate them and behaviors that conflict.
This paves the way toward movement in the direction of being the most valuable self through skill development and reflection on aspirations congruent with deeply help hopes and dreams.
Goal : Therapeutic benefits of helping others are introduced and the client is encouraged to Give the Gift of Time in a way that employs their strengths.
Tool : Gift of Time
Rationale : Helping others and practicing altruistic behavior has been shown to significantly increase a sense of meaning and purpose in life. In addition to making a difference, we also benefit from shifting our focus away from ourselves and indulging in our own thoughts (Keltner, 2009).
Research shows that material gifts lose their charm and value over time, but positive experiences and interactions continue to pay dividends through increased confidence that you can, in fact, do good (Kasser & Kanner, 2004).
Think of ways in which you could give someone you care about a Gift of Time. Brainstorm ways of doing something that requires a fair amount of time and involves using your strengths. Using your strengths to deliver the gift will make the exercise more satisfying.
Write about your experience, recalling the details of what was involved in planning and reflect on how it made you feel.
Homework : To maintain progress, suggest that the client performs a few random acts of kindness or consider volunteering for a cause they care about in a way that would allow them to use their strengths.
Clinician Note : Exercise caution if the self-care of clients is already compromised and make sure that their altruistic endeavors don’t negatively impact their self-care needs. To help clients decide on the scale of their altruistic endeavors, explore carefully client’s level of distress and wellbeing as it may reveal their exposure to a potential vulnerability.
Goal : The concept of a full life is explained as an integration of enjoyment, engagement and meaning and ways of sustaining positive change in the future are devised.
Tools : From Your Past Toward Your Future and Positive Legacy
Rationale : Cultivation of meaning helps us articulate our life goals in a way that integrates our past, present, and future. It provides a sense of efficacy, helps create ways to justify our actions and connects us to other people through a shared sense of purpose.
Cultivating long term life-satisfaction is closely tied to meaningful pursuits and our lives provide opportunities for meaningful stretches if one is willing to look.
In this final session, we combine the positive introduction with a better version of the self, and the hope of leaving a positive legacy.
If available, please read your Positive Introduction from Session I. If not, simply recall your story of resilience from our first session. Answer the following questions:
Positive Legacy
Envision your life as you would like it to be and how you would want to be remembered by others. What accomplishments and strengths would they mention? What would you like your legacy to be? Describe in concrete terms. _____
Now look back at what you wrote and ask yourself if you have a plan that is both realistic and within your ability to do so.
Homework : Resolve to keep this in a safe place and read it again a year from now. At that point ask yourself if you made progress, if you need to revise your goals, or if new goals have emerged for you.
Clinician notes : Some client may struggle to find purpose and meaning in their life, especially if they are struggling with a significant loss, trauma or severe depression. Nevertheless, it is very important for the client to be asked about meaning. Irvin Yalom (2020), the author of Existential Psychotherapy states that every one of his clients expressed concerns about the lack of meaning in their lives.
Expand your arsenal and impact with these 17 Positive Psychology Exercises [PDF] , scientifically designed to promote human flourishing, meaning, and wellbeing.
Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.
We hope that you found this overview of effective positive psychotherapy tools to be helpful.
What has your experience been using these positive psychotherapy exercises? Leave a comment below. We would love to hear and learn from you.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .
Share this article:
What our readers think.
I am very happy to see this post because it really a nice post. Thanks
This article is very informative and comprehensive. It has broadened my knowledge and perspective on Positive Psychotherapy. The exercises can benefit my clients as well as myself in the pursuit of happiness.
This is indeed one of the most rarely well thought and designed positive therapy/ coaching exercises which I am certain that will have a good impact on the client. Millions of thanks
This article has made me more effective in my work and I thank you dearly!
you are a genius!!!!!!
Beautifully executed. Focused on the positive. Clients would feel enthused to pursue it. A positive psychology CBT.
Your email address will not be published.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Resolving ‘unfinished business’ is often an essential part of counseling. If left unresolved, it can contribute to depression, anxiety, and mental ill-health while damaging existing [...]
As humans, we are social creatures with personal histories based on the various groups that make up our lives. Childhood begins with a family of [...]
Setting up a private practice in psychotherapy brings several challenges, including a considerable investment of time and money. You can reduce risks early on by [...]
IMAGES
COMMENTS
52 Big Writing/Big Talk Talk Homework IDEAS ig Writing/Big Talk - Talk Hom wo l 2. The worst day of your life ... t om fa S ou hi locality / this city / this coun ry d .
Think about Something to Talk About Thinking homework is a difficult concept for lots of students and teachers because 'thinking' isn't seen as a productive skill. However, the greatest academic and business minds regularly set aside time to think and plan what they are going to say or do.
Homework Ideas for Teachers Here you'll find practical ideas, homework activities and printable resources. This collection of homework ideas will help you to send your students home with tailored homework activities that will be beneficial to their learning, reinforcing and practising the skills and knowledge they are currently exploring in ...
In this article, I'm sharing how to motivate students to do their homework and 11 vocabulary homework ideas and worksheets that work in grades 1-12. Plus, preview and grab my 7 Options for Vocabulary Homework Kit.
2. Make a board game. This is definitely one of the most creative homework assignments. Let your students come up with an idea for a board game about the lesson content. They have to make cards, and pawns, draw, write, cut, and paste. They have to use their imagination and inventive ideas to create a coherent board game. Click to open.
Talk homework ideas Subject: Whole School Literacy Age range: 7 - 11 Resource type: Worksheet/Activity File previews pdf, 129.99 KB
Homework can actually be fun when it doesn't seem like work! Discover 10 fun homework ideas for English language learners in 2022.
Middle level teaching expert Rick Wormeli shares 13 tested strategies that will help make homework more meaningful and engaging for young adolescents.
Many schools still require that homework is set for students. So, as teachers, how can we make sure we are approaching homework the right way, in order to provide enriching opportunities for student learning to take place? Well, here are a few simple ideas to get you started.
Read on for Zimmerman's summer homework game plan and ideas for how to make summer assignments more fun for everyone.
If you use 'Talk the Big Talk' in your classroom, and have any learning and teaching ideas, we'd love to hear from you. This entry was posted in Literacy Resources and tagged big writing, talk the big talk on February 17, 2013 by Mr Cook .
So to sum up the main takeaways: To make homework tasks more engaging, try making them more personalised, authentic, and challenging by integrating several 21st century skills and involving the real world around your students. Don't hesitate to share your ideas here or on social media! Joanna is a very active educator, trainer and blogger.
Want to make homework fun for your child but don't know where to start? Take a look at our 13 top fun homework ideas for some inspiration!
Setting appropriate homework tasks is a big part of your teaching role. Here's some creative homework ideas for your students.
Let's redesign homework. When's the last time your students got excited to do homework? Or said things like, "Wow…just WOW. It is amazing how much is out there that we just don't know about"? What if every homework assignment could expand a student's worldview while engaging a kid's natural curiosity? One middle school teacher took on this challenge — so you don't have to.
Creative Homework Ideas How can you create homework assignments that build on the day's lessons and encourage creative, student-led learning? It's a challenge for most teachers, especially as motivating pupils to complete homework can add a whole extra layer to your lesson plans. But it's essential to bridge the gap between teacher and student learning - the skills gained through ...
Stumped for ideas on what homework to give to your ESL students? Check out 10 ideas for homework for ESL students in this teacher's guide!
Become your students' favourite teacher. Make learning fun for them with these creative school homework ideas.
100s of free safety talk topics for your next safety meeting or toolbox talk! These 5-minute toolbox talks topics are easy to use.
Homework and Homework Club 101. January 8, 2022 by Jill Shafer. Hello, friend! Let's talk about homework club and what it looks like in our classroom. I have used THIS with students in grades three through five but, like with anything, tweak it to meet the needs of your kids. Disclaimer to start: I'm not here to argue for or against homework.
If your high schoolers are anything like my high schoolers, they love spending time talking about how bored they are. Yet for whatever reason, that talk never turns into action. Nothing seems to change at the end of the year, as kids are making plans for what they will be doing, or not be doing, over the summer. I always enjoy making an addition to their plans-a little bit of summer homework ...
Talk homework ideas. Subject: Speaking and listening. Age range: 5-7. Resource type: Worksheet/Activity. File previews. pdf, 129.99 KB. use as whole school talk homework to feed into writing and speaking and listening when used across all classes and key stages. Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?
Positive Psychotherapy helps clients use their inner resources to thrive and flourish. We share exercises & worksheets for use in sessions.