This is a condensed slide deck from my Winter 2018 section of The Art of Self-Coaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

1. The art of
self-coaching
Ed Batista
Class 9: SUCCESS
Winter 2017
“Success Kid” photograph © Laney Griner, used with permission [link]

2. Today’s guiding
spirit

3. Today’s guiding
spirit
Strengths
Values
Working Conditions

4. Strengths
It takes far more energy and work to improve
from incompetence to mediocrity than it
takes to improve from first-rate performance
to excellence.
~Peter Drucker

5. Growth mindset?
Change is always possible…
What’s the opportunity cost?

6. More happiness
Image by Public Domain Review [link]
myths…

7. I’ll be happy
Image by Public Domain Review [link]
when…

8. I’ll be happy
Sonja Lyubomirsky
Why doesn’t success make us happier?
when…

9. Hedonic treadmill
Photo by E’Lisa Campbell [link]

10. Hedonic treadmill
The more we attain, the happier we become.
But the more we attain, the more we want.
~Sonja Lyubomirsky

11. Hedonic treadmill
Two chief explanations: We experience less &
less pleasure over time & our aspirations rise.
~Sonja Lyubomirsky

12. Hedonic treadmill
Are high achievers doomed?
How do we avoid settling?

13. Social
Photo by debarshray [link]
comparison

14. Social
Those of us who typically rely on our own
internal, objective standards are happiest.
~Sonja Lyubomirsky
comparison

15. Social
Those of us who base our self-evaluations on
comparisons with others are the unhappy ones.
~Sonja Lyubomirsky
comparison

16. Social
Why might this be a bigger problem post-GSB?
comparison

17. Goal pursuit
© Getty Images

18. Goal pursuit
The critical factor in whether goal pursuit
makes us happy lies in enjoying the journey &
not in realizing the end-goal.
~Sonja Lyubomirsky

19. Goal pursuit
But when do we prioritize the journey?
And is now too soon?

20. So what
can we do?

21. Aspiration
Concrete experiences & observations
Gratitude & appreciation
Goal selection & framing
Values
management

22. Values
To work in an organization whose value
system is incompatible with one’s own
condemns a person to frustration.
~Peter Drucker

23. A value system
Photo by Steve Rhodes [link]

24. A value system
If you worship money & things, you will never
have enough. Worship your own body &
beauty, you will always feel ugly. Worship
power, you will end up feeling weak & afraid.
~David Foster Wallace

25. A value system
The really important kind of freedom involves
attention & awareness & discipline & effort &
being able truly to care about other people &
to sacrifice for them, over & over.
~David Foster Wallace

26. Conditions
For knowledge workers, How do I perform?
may be an even more important question than
What are my strengths?
~Peter Drucker

27. To sum up
Photo by Pranav Yaddanapudi [link]

28. To sum up
Success may entail focusing on strengths
Managing aspirations will be key
Clarity on values can help
The power of no

29. For next time…
Photo by Yoppi [link]

30. Endings
Photo by Striatic [link]

31. Endings
William Bridges on transitions
Christopher Peterson on life & habits
& some feedback…

32. Photo by dotmatchbox [link]
Feedback

33. Feedback
For both of your partners
The worksheet is a suggestion
Use whatever format works best for you

34. Photo by Basti Hirsch [link]
More feedback

35. More feedback
Course evaluations on Axess
Look for an email from MBA program

36. Other items…
Slides will be posted to my site
One last assignment: Sunday 5pm
1:1 meetings today in B206 (the usual location)