PQ is a neuroscience-based program that trains people to recognize self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors and shift to a more empowered mindset which positively impacts their productivity, their inner well-being, and their interpersonal work relationships. It is a brilliantly designed 6-week mental fitness program that is easily incorporated into even the busiest professional’s day to day. I can’t say enough about this program – even for myself, it has been a game-changer.
If you’re not physically fit, you’d feel physical stress as you climb a steep hill.
If you’re not mentally fit, you’d feel mental stress, such as anxiety, frustration, or unhappiness, as you handle work and relationship challenges.
80% of people score below the minimum level of mental fitness required for peak performance and happiness.
The great news? With recent breakthroughs in neuroscience and technology, you can now improve your mental fitness significantly within 6 weeks of practice.
The results? Dramatically improved performance and productivity and a calm, clear and happier mind.
Mental fitness is a measure of the strength of your positive mental muscles (Sage) versus the negative (Saboteur). Saboteurs react to challenges in ways that generate negative emotions such as stress, disappointment, self-doubt, regret, anger, shame, guilt, or worry.
Your Sage handles challenges through positive emotions like empathy, gratitude, curiosity, creativity, self-confidence, and calm, clear-headed, laser-focused action.
The relative strength of your positive Sage versus negative Saboteurs is called PQ (Positive Intelligence Quotient).
PQ is the measure of your Mental Fitness. It’s the best predictor of how happy you are and how well you perform relative to your potential.
You can boost your PQ significantly with practice.
PQ is a synthesis of recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, cognitive behavioral and positive psychology, and performance science.
Research included:
This research was summarized in Shirzad Chamine’s book Positive Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller, translated into 20 languages.
Within 6-8 weeks of mental fitness training you’d be able to see the results in MRI imaging:
Improvements in these competencies lead to substantial results:
Positive Intelligence (PQ) is a synthesis of recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, cognitive and positive psychology, and performance science validated by over half a million participants in 50 countries.
PQ is a measure of the strength of positive mental muscles (Sage) versus negative ones (Saboteurs).
Saboteurs react to challenges in ways that generate negative emotions such as stress, disappointment, self-doubt, regret, anger, shame, guilt or worry.
The Sage handles challenges through positive emotions like empathy, gratitude, curiosity, creativity, self-confidence and calm, clear-headed, laser-focused action.
The relative strength of the positive Sage versus the negative Saboteurs is called PQ (Positive Intelligence Quotient).
You can find out your PQ score here.
In addition to being a long-time, seasoned professional certified Co-Active (CPCC) and credentialed (PCC) leadership coach I am also a Certified Positive Intelligence™ Mental Fitness Coach (CPQC) and have permission from Shirzad Chamine and Positive Intelligence, Inc. to provide and facilitate the flagship Positive Intelligence program as part of my coaching practice.
Designed like a mental fitness bootcamp, the PQ Program gives you the insights, motivation, and structure to practice 15 minutes per day for 6 weeks. The program combines weekly video sessions with daily app-guided practices to boost your 3 core mental fitness muscles.
“I’ve practiced many self-help modalities and am an avid yoga practitioner and meditate regularly, but the PQ Methods get in between all the gaps that still caused me chronic challenges. My main saboteurs are the Controller and Hyper Achiever. I’ve been able to identify my weaknesses and I’ve learned to incorporate PQ reps throughout my day. Once I know something works, I never stop doing it. The POD experience brought our group closer together and I feel an intimate connection with them all. My daily life is much more relaxed, calm and efficient. I pause more before reacting and I’m much more empathetic to others because of the exercises we learned. I also recover quicker when I’m triggered and able to bounce back without regrets. I highly recommend the Positive Intelligence course for anyone wanting to live their best life in relationships, work, etc. It is a program of repetitive actions that makes your mental muscles stronger everyday. And Dani Rukin made it fun and very engaging!”
“As someone who has done therapy, recovery, and all manner of self-help programs, I find the PQ program to be one of the most effective because it’s a daily practice that can easily be incorporated into a packed schedule. For me, Hyper-Vigilance was problem #1 and the PQ program has given me concrete methods to deal with it when it crops up! Problem #2 is Avoidance. Again, PQ has helped me manage this. While not cured, I can recognize it when it’s happening, do a 5 minute rep and get going. The list goes on but, suffice it to say, I plan to make the reps a daily thing. It works if I work it! Thanks to Dani Rukin for her wisdom and guidance! Dani made the POD meetings fun!”
“Negative emotions like worry have often sidelined me. I struggle to stay in the present moment. Our PQ Pod became a safe space for me. I loved feeling supported by our group while I worked on overcoming judgement of myself and others — so I may live my best life. As a result, my relationships are more balanced and I am feeling more empowered than ever! Anyone can benefit from this smart, yet simple practice. Dani is an inspirational teacher and with next-level mastery of this program. I recommend Positive Intelligence for anybody that wants to achieve their external goals and dreams while simultaneously caring for their own hearts and minds.”
Here’s what the program schedule looks like
You’ll move through the program with a pod of approximately 5-10 participants. If you are not part of an existing group doing the program together, you will be assigned to a pod. Your pod will agree on a time to meet for 30-45 minutes to support one another with your PQ practice.
In addition to the weekly pod calls, you will receive support from Dani throughout the program. All of my guidance is designed to support you and answer your questions, so you can evolve your practice and strengthen your mental fitness in support of your goals.
Each week you access a one-hour video lesson from Shirzad Chamine, creator of the Positive Intelligence program, in the PQ app. And each weekday you will access the PQ app for 15 minutes to get you out of theory and build your PQ mental muscles through exercises and practice. Optionally, you can add live private coaching sessions with Dani, your PQ Coach, during the program to lock-in the learning, go much deeper than you can go in pod discussions, and receive much more customized support throughout the program.
In the PQ app, you will also have access to the broader PQ community channel for the program, where, if you wish, you can share your progress, insights, and a-ha moments with others going through the program at the same time and support each other’s growth and learning. At the end of the program, participants will have the option to enroll in “Grow” for those who want to continue growing their mental fitness.
Pods form every six weeks or sooner when a group of at least 5 people with common interests (or an intact work team) is ready to go.
Take the first step and complete the free 5 minute Saboteur assessment. Once you have the results, schedule a call with Dani to assess your saboteurs and discuss which format of the PQ Mental Fitness program will best support your goals.
In these highly engaging sessions, Shirzad guides you through experiential exercises that deepen and personalize your understanding of the mental fitness tools. You leave inspired and energized for the week’s daily practices.
Each day a different focus for daily practice is assigned through a personalized companion app available exclusively to program participants.
This builds one small muscle at a time, laying down new neural pathways to form lasting positive habits of your mind. The cumulative impact by program’s end is substantial.
Innovative 10-second PQ Reps build up your Self-Command muscle. You learn to be clear-headed and calm even in the midst of great challenges, able to command your mind to shift from Saboteur to Sage response.
The app tracks your daily progress against minimum targets associated with new neural pathway (muscle) formation. Personalized daily coaching tips from Shirzad continue to both encourage and challenge you to keep going.
Dani remains an active member of your pod, answering your questions or providing online coaching. Participants report the online cohort community to be key to sustaining their enthusiasm for daily practice.
The first week you learn innovative 10-second PQ Reps that boost your self-command. This enables you to run your brain rather than being run by your Saboteur-hijacked brain. Self-command is key to intercepting unhelpful mental habits and rewiring your brain to respond more effectively.
For this entire week, you’ll intercept and weaken the most damaging Saboteur, the Judge. You discover how judging yourself, others, and circumstances is a key source of your stress and quite damaging to your performance. Most participants discover their Judge to be far more prevalent and damaging than they suspected.
This week you intercept and weaken the top accomplice to your Judge Saboteur, identified through the Saboteur Assessment from the following: Avoider, Controller, Hyper-Achiever, Hyper-Rational, Hyper-Vigilant, Pleaser, Restless, Stickler, Victim.
After weakening your Saboteurs, it is now time to strengthen your Sage, the counterpart to your Saboteurs. Your Sage lives in an entirely different part of your brain, generates all your positive emotions, and achieves peak performance through a calm and clear mind.
The Sage region of the brain enables 5 primary powers. Analogous to the 3 primary colors, these 5 powers recombine to form all of the emotional intelligence competencies considered crucial to professional success.
In our final week, you use your Sage’s Navigate and Activate powers to take clear-headed, laser-focused, decisive action.
In this final session, you discover how to continue using your PQ tools for a variety of work and life applications.
Traditional training and development tends to have short-lived impact for 3 reasons:
Through extensive factor analysis research, PQ has identified the 10 root-level negative factors (Saboteurs) and the 5 primary powers (Sage). This enables a common operating system.
All personal and professional development become applications of the PQ operating system. Whether learning to manage conflicts, manage time, or perform better under pressure, you’d apply the same exact operating system:
You’d be using one simple framework for a variety of applications, boosting root-level mental fitness.
This dramatically simplifies personal and professional development.
Due to the power of factor analysis, the PQ Program boosts the root-level building blocks that automatically boost all 18 Emotional Intelligence competencies.
Self-Awareness | Social Awareness |
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Self-Management | Relationship Management |
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PQ (Positive Intelligence) is the only mental fitness operating system you will ever need to install in yourself. It is the foundation for your success AND happiness. Have you been successful but neither fully happy or satisfied with your accomplishments? Have you been happy but not as successful as you wish? No need to keep pushing the boulder up the hill and invest the time now to forever change your life in the areas of work performance, quality relationships, and personal wellness.
I now include PQ as a foundational component for all coaching engagements: that is how impactful it is for those who commit to the intensive six-week program.
Email me to schedule a call to talk further about registering for the 6-week PQ coaching program.