Below I am sharing the cover letter that got me into the Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology master’s program at the University of East London.
Occasionally, I will find myself asking: Is there any meaning to life? When one reflects the question seriously, he or she realizes that life is neither meaningful, nor meaningless. It is both. Like a never-ending cycle of ups and downs, joys and sorrows, successes and failures. Therefore, the happy ones will feel that life is wonderful and meaningful, whereas the sad ones will see it as miserable and meaningless. But what about positive psychology? Is it meaningful or less so?
To start with, there are several problems with the term ‘positive psychology’. One, it is confusing (especially to lay people), suggesting some kind of negative psychology, although there is no such thing. Two, it is undescriptive, as it is often associated only with happiness science, yet mistakenly. Three, it can sound annoying and actually overly positive. In my view (and I will probably get in trouble for that), positive psychology is just good old clinical psych which (and here is the twist) deals with both parts of human functioning: ‘the positive’ as well as ‘the negative’. Just on a relatively equal footing.
Having had worked in HR and recruitment for around 4 years (both internally and externally) and spoken to over 400 people about their work lives, I witnessed many who did not rise to the occasion despite their talent and creativity. Or were top performers but did not really enjoy what they did. At the same time, I talked to a considerable amount who were not only great performers, but actually loved and enjoyed their work. This drew me to the realization that there were no ‘unsuitable employees’; there was only a bad match between the person and the culture/team/project/position.
For this reason, I began helping candidates become more aware of their personalities–traits, values, needs, communication style, etc.—and build such work lives which would lead to better self-realization, therefore, higher satisfaction in their chosen occupations. During the process, I noticed that I started paying more attention to the successes and strengths of the interviewees rather than their failures and weaknesses, gradually transforming from a recruiter to a quasi career coach.
Luckily, I had various sources of feedback to make sure I was doing well. For instance, I managed to double the annual revenue of my recruitment services only in 1 year. This was followed by an increase in client satisfaction, candidate experience, and new leads. As a consequence, I saved a lot of time and resources which I proudly dedicated to completing a second bachelor’s (this time in psychology) and several coaching courses by ICF, ICAgile, and PositivePsychology.com.
Although I am relatively happy about my career in the HR field, I still feel that working as a wellbeing-oriented psychologist would provide me with more balance and joy in life. I also believe that the strong emphasis on coaching psychology would equip me with the necessary tools and knowledge in strengths-based counselling, valued living, and optimal well-being which I could use in coaching clients, consulting organizations, and teaching the future generation of psychologists.
As the (in)famous Jordan B. Peterson suggests, pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. I have to admit that in the last few years or so I had been pursuing mainly the expedient: money, status, KPIs. However, now I feel that the time has come to pursue what is meaningful which is my love for psychology and seeing people become better versions of themselves. I hope that studying this master’s programme will help me become a better version of myself and thus help others follow my lead.
So, is positive psychology meaningful or meaningless? I think, it is both. Is it useful? 100 percent YES.