Harnessing Character Strengths For Health Goals
When it comes to behaviour change, motivation waxes and wanes and the well of willpower eventually runs dry. Unlike motivation and willpower, we can always rely on our inner resources or capacity. Studies in the field of positive psychology show that focusing - and building - on existing strengths is much more likely to achieve a desired outcome. Read on to find out more.
Character strengths - as defined by Dr. Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson - are positive traits (or capacities) that tick the following boxes:
Provide personal fulfilment.
Do not diminish others.
Universal and valued across cultures.
Aligned with numerous positive outcomes for ourselves and others.
There are 24 in total, all of which exist in everyone in varying degrees. It is important to note that not every strength is appropriate for all situations. There are about 5 signature strengths which come so easily and naturally to each of us that they effectively run on autopilot. Of the remaining 19, some strengths arise in particular situations as needed (phasic strengths), while others are expressed to a lesser degree or with lesser frequency (lesser strengths). Best of all, any strength can be developed and used more often to change your behaviour so that you can meet your health and fitness goals.
Research shows that using character strengths can:
Improve relationships with ourselves and others
Build resilience
Enhance health and overall wellbeing
That said, applying specific strengths is more a matter of trial and error than a magic wand. It is, therefore, best to view the use of any particular strength in any particular scenario as an experiment, the success or failure of which will provide valuable data on the best next step to take - or strength to bring into play.
Many of us are far better at pinpointing where we feel we fall short than we are at recognising our best qualities. “Strengths blindness”, as it is often called, inevitably leads to overuse or underuse, turning latent strengths into what can often be perceived as weaknesses.
Take the strength of appreciation of beauty and excellence, for example. Those who express this strength notice and appreciate beauty, excellence and/or skilled performance in various spheres of life, ranging from physical or moral beauty to the skill or talent of others. It also inspires a desire to pursue one’s own goals. Taken to the extreme, it morphs into perfectionism and a tendency for being demanding, while underuse leads to apathy and cynicism.
The key here is to first discover your signature strengths and begin to use them optimally as often as possible. Here are a couple of scenarios to illustrate how this can be done:
Your signature strengths are curiosity, love of learning, teamwork, creativity, and appreciation of beauty and excellence. You want to get stronger but you don’t know where to start. Your natural curiosity leads you to seek out people who have personal experience in this area, keeping an open mind as you do so. Speaking to them fuels your love of learning, and you look for relevant books, podcasts and TED Talks to deepen your knowledge. You learn that diet is integral to the process so you team up with a nutritionist and a personal trainer (teamwork). You find new ways to make delicious meals while in a calorie deficit (creativity) and you are so inspired by the skill of the personal trainer (appreciation of beauty and excellence) that you consistently follow their recommendations and meet your fitness goals.
Your signature strengths are bravery, self-regulation, judgement, perseverance and hope. A nutritionist is guiding you through a diet to help you lose fat and gain muscle. You experience a period of weight gain and an initial surge of alarm as a result. You naturally default to pausing and taking a few deep breaths (self-regulation). Your tendency towards bravery enables you to face this challenge head-on, despite your fear of failure. You acknowledge the reality of your situation and your feelings about it, remind yourself that you have the nutritionist’s support and get in touch (judgement). Together, you discover effective ways to overcome this temporary setback and make your goals a reality (perseverance). Your signature strength of hope kicks in, pivoting you towards positive expectations about the future.
Certain character strengths complement each other more than others for even better results. Self-regulation, for instance, keeps bravery from becoming recklessness by creating space between impulse and action. Perseverance supports self-regulation by helping you stay on track when faced with difficulty.
The VIA Institute offers a free, scientifically validated Character Strengths Test if you would like to find out your signature strengths. Should you choose to take it, here are a few suggestions for experiments you could conduct once you have your results:
Play around with the intensity with which you apply each of your strengths to a health-related behaviour you would like to change. What outcome do you notice when they are dialled up or down?
Choose two strengths and see how you can use them together to meet a health or fitness goal.