Session Six Worksheet:
Flipping Couches Worksheet
Objective:
Unlearn deficit indoctrination that breeds labeling.
Pivot toward strengths thinking.
Rethink It:
Move from Deficits to Strengths
Sometimes we’ve shut our ovens off before we had a chance to bake our strengths to full maturity. Like inaccurate inkblot tests, we can be sent into cycles of thinking that we are entirely flawed. When we fixate on deficits without considering strengths, we stay stuck in downward-spiral modes, instead of seeing the bigger picture of our worth and potential.
Strengths Check
- What three strengths am I most proud of?
- Are there any labels people have given me that are half baked?
- What kinds of explanations do I rely on to understand myself?
- What do people who know me well say about my strengths?
Action Steps:
Recognize Your Strengths
We’re taught from an early age to be problem-focused, not solution-focused. To save our normal, we must flip the couch and see what’s underneath it. Too many WEIRD framings in psychology are outdated and don’t capture all the sides of life.
1. Get off the couch. Remove yourself from the pathologizing couch and go on a strengths-finding expedition. Go back and review your Values in Action Inventory results from session two.
2. You can also take a SWOT analysis online to help pinpoint strengths. Tuning in requires discovering strengths that serve as springboards for growth and development.
3. Bake your strengths. We all have strengths to keep developing. Pick one that you really want to work on—whether it’s more confidence, public speaking skills, empathy, creativity, or otherwise. Select one that you want to focus on. Ask a trusted friend to brainstorm ways to develop it further. Keep it in the oven for at least three weeks—in other words, practice the skill diligently for that set period. When the timer goes off, take a look at your progress and see what else you can do to keep on baking.
4. Save your normal. Take a close look at your whole health. Be proactive about protecting it. Consider chatting with a licensed therapist or coach to look at you in totality—your strengths and struggles—to determine the best types of support to help you cope with life’s stressors and be proactive in maintaining optimal health.
1. show a continuous and dramatic increase.
2. decrease or deteriorate continuously.
Joni worked hard to embrace the different directions of her life spiral.