Todd Kashdan, on going against the grain, idea capture, and autonomy

<p><a href="https://www.toddkashdan.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener">Todd Kashdan, PhD</a>, is a professor of psychology at George Mason University, where he’s senior scientist at the <a href="https://wellbeing.gmu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Center for the Advancement of Wellbeing</a>. He’s been a leading researcher in  positive psychology from when that area first started to blow up, but often plays the role of someone who challenges established wisdom in that area of research.</p> <p>When looking for the right job, Dr. Kashdan sought the one that would give him the most autonomy in his work. He’s delighted that at George Mason he’s been able to follow his interests. As he gleefully states, he “gets paid to read books, write articles, and study whatever he wants,” which includes but is not limited to gratitude, positive emotions, spirituality, purpose, curiosity, creativity, resilience, and anxiety – just to name a few.</p> <p>Dr. Kashdan doesn’t shy away from controversial, and that’s, at least partly, by design. His mantra is, whatever is the zeitgeist of the moment – be it mindfulness, positivity, etc. – there must be a psychological benefit to the opposite. That’s why you’ll frequently hear him arguing for the very opposite of whatever is the popular message of the day.  </p> <p>In today’s episode, Dr. Kashdan and I dive deep into his controversial side. He shares the story of the impromptu speech for which he was “banished” as a speaker from a well-known positive psychology organization. He shares lessons he’s learned on softening his approach and explains why he’s not about to give up on speaking out. He also shares his card-based method for capturing and organizing his thoughts, ideas, and insights.</p> <p>If you want to read some more about the ways he’s organizes his work and his productivity tools, this blog post goes into a lot more details: <a href= "https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/curious/201701/essential-set-tools-productivity-work">https://www.psycholog