On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Kathryn Britton MAPP, MS in Computer Science, CPC
Kathryn Britton Quick Facts
Main Areas: Job satisfaction, positive interventions, individual coachingCareer Focus: Author, Coach, Speaker
Affiliation: Theano Coaching LLC
Before I decided to make a big career about-face, I
had been a software engineer for 30 years and had risen pretty far up the
technical career ladder in a major information technology corporation. I led software development teams, created software architectures, chaired a patent evaluation committee, and filed
25+ patent applications myself.
In
September 2005, I took a big step out of my comfort zone to study
positive psychology as a member of the first class of the Master of
Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. This program was the first of its kind in the world.
Applied positive psychology
is all about putting research findings to work to make people's lives
happier, more productive, more fulfilling, more engaging, and more
meaningful. After I finished the degree, I had to figure out, "What
next? How do I use what I learned to make a difference?"
For
the next 9 months, I focused on helping groups of people inside my
company become more engaged and satisfied at work. Certain aspects of
positive psychology make perfect sense in business settings and are not
hard for people to learn and apply.
Then I set out on my own. I have at least
20 years experience mentoring individuals and groups of individuals. I've heard a lot of stories. I've
also experienced the magic of helping people bring new ideas into existence. That's the core of coaching. So I trained to be a certified professional coach with Coach Training Alliance in 2006 and then completed the training course of the Quality of Life Therapy and Coaching Academy.
I came to coaching to put what I learned
about positive emotion, resilience, intrinsic motivation,
and character strengths into practice to make my own positive difference in the world.
I also write about applied positive psychology in my blog, Positive Psychology Reflections, and in monthly articles in Positive Psychology News Daily.
Other Programs & Highlights
In my blog, Positive Psychology Reflections, I post short articles on subjects such as
- Realistic optimism
- Notes from a Gratitude Presentation, along with 3 gratitude exercises
- There's a place for negative feedback
- Effective positive feedback
- Process praise and growth mindsets
I am also interested in helping construct a Positive Canon. Like the Western Canon, the Positive Canon is a list to help guide readers, in this case to books, poetry, and movies that support bring the ideas of positive psychology to life. I occasionally write a short article about an item that I think should be added to the canon. Here are a couple of examples:
