August Newsletter
Hi PFP Community,
We’re so excited to have finally launched the Betterment Book Club this month, and also get started on season 3 of the People First Podcast. We had a great time seeing many of you earlier this week for the first book club meeting talking through Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck. If you couldn’t make this first meeting, we’d love to have you hop in for September to review Start with Why by one of our favorite authors, Simon Sinek.
We’re dedicating this month’s newsletter to our quarterly book club theme, “mindset.”
Below we have a couple of additional updates and details for both the book club and podcast along with some mindset-focused resources we’ve found valuable.
-The PFP Team
Betterment Book Club
This week marked the first Betterment Book Club meeting to cover Mindset: The New Psychology of Success! We had a great time connecting with everyone and sharing different perspectives on the book -- thanks so much to all who were able to join!
If you missed this month, but would like to join us in September, no worries! You can join at any time -- go ahead and mark your calendars for September 21st at 7pm CST/8pm EST for the next meeting. Start With Why by Simon Sinek is the book for September, so grab a copy or check it out on Audible to get ready for our next meeting. To stay in the loop with updates, scheduling, monthly book announcements, and virtual meeting invitations, please register for the Betterment Book Club here.
The People First Podcast
Season 2 of The People First Podcast recently wrapped up, and all episodes are streaming wherever you get your podcasts from. The season covered a wide variety of topics, including parenting with EQ, following your heart/dreams, and teaching with empathy and grace. We invite you to listen to Season 2 and provide us with any feedback you have.
Additionally, if you have a topic that you are passionate about and would be interested in sharing with an audience, we'd love to have you on our podcast. Please reach out to Jon Sousa (jon@peoplefirstprofessionals.org) for more information!
Mindset
As with learning or improving on anything, it’s always important to start with the foundation. In the context of self-improvement, it’s critical that we understand ourselves (self-awareness) first and build from that foundation, which is why we chose to explore the importance of mindset as our first theme to kick off the Betterment Book Club.
We learned in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, small degrees of change in how we view ourselves and the world around us can yield substantially different outcomes. The focus of this book is on a more general and fundamental mindset that is relevant in just about any context. In the realm of Emotional Intelligence specifically, DiSC (a popular personality assessment), has identified 8 particular core mindsets for Agile EQ that we can call on in any given situation.
“We all have particular mindsets that come naturally to us, so much so that they become automatic. But when you over-rely on the tendencies that are comfortable to you, it can distort the way you look at the world. And because other points of view take more effort, you might not recognize when a situation calls for them.”
We’ll continue to share resources throughout the quarter related to understanding, identifying, and improving our mindsets. If you’re ready to dive deeper, here are a few articles we’ve found particularly interesting on the subject.
For more on the 8 Agile EQ Mindsets, check out this article: https://www.discprofiles.com/blog/2020/08/emotional-intelligence-and-agility-in-the-workplace/#.YRmn9VNKg-R
For more on the Empathetic Mindset, check out this article: https://www.discprofiles.com/blog/2020/09/your-empathizing-mindset-in-agile-eq/#.YRmn8lNKg-R
For more on Mental Health and the Continuum of Emotional Health, check out this article: https://www.6seconds.org/2021/05/18/emotions-mental-health-action/
