Happy and meaningful lives are great, but they can be a bit boring at times. Erin Westgate studies another construct of a well-lived life called Psychological Richness. When you are psychologically rich you have a life that is full of exciting and perspective-changing experiences. Listen in to hear Dr. Westgate share her cutting-edge research in this area and strategies to grow your psychologically rich life today!
About Dr. Erin Westgate
Dr. Erin Westgate (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Florida, where she studies boredom, interest, and why some thoughts are more engaging than others. She received her PhD in social psychology from the University of Virginia in 2018, and her undergraduate degree from Reed College. Much of her research has been on the conditions under which people enjoy or do not enjoy their own thoughts. She has extended that work to the larger question of why people become bored, developing a new model of boredom that explains what boredom is, why we experience it, and what happens when we do. Her recent work focuses on the desire for a “psychologically rich” life (versus a happy or meaningful one) and why some people seek out a life filled with a variety of interesting experiences.
Key Takeaways
- Psychological richness is a new construct in psychology that is different but related to happiness and meaning
- Happy lives lead to personal satisfaction, meaningful lives lead to social contributions and psychologically rich lives lead to wisdom
- You can develop psychological richness by being challenged, traveling, and increasing variety in your day
- Psychological richness may help you see challenges as opportunities to grow
- Productive procrastination is an effective way to procrastinate and does not lead to worse outcomes compared to non-procrastinators
- Boredom is not good or bad, it’s information
Related Resources
- Download Your Daily Practice for this episode
- Find out what kind of Striver you are and get your free Skillful Striving Toolkit
- A Psychologically Rich Life by Oishi and Westgate
- Shocking research on being alone with your thoughts by Erin Westgate
- Research article about Psychological Richness During COVID
- Erin Westgate on Why Boredom Is So Interesting
- What is Values-rich Living?
Diana’s Events
- Reserve your spot in Diana’s Reset and Restore Retreat in Costa Rica in 2023!
- Sign Up for From Striving to Thriving Summit
- See Diana at an upcoming event
Connecting With Diana
Thank you for listening to Your Life in Process! Subscribe to the podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If you have any questions or feedback you can contact Diana by email at podcast@yourlifeinprocess.com or leave Diana an audio message at (805) 457-2776. Follow Diana at YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Diana’s website.
Thank you to the team Craig, Angela Stubbs, and Ashley Hiatt. Thank you to Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.
Episode Segments
- [00:00] Introduction
- [00:22] Diana’s Event: Costa Rica Retreat
- [01:49] My Goals For This Podcast
- [03:55] About Dr. Erin Westgate
- [06:10] Three Components Of Well-Being
- [07:58] How To Study Psychological Richness
- [13:06] The Overlap Between ACT and Psychological Richness
- [16:23] Diana’s Event: From Striving to Thriving Summit 2.0
- [17:59] How Psychological Richness Leads To Wisdom
- [20:04] Facing Challenge With Psychological Richness
- [23:57] Diana’s Experience With Psychological Richness
- [27:56] The Link Between Emotions and Psychological Richness
- [34:37] How We Can Learn From Boredom
- [41:53] Productive Procrastination
- [46:20] Where To Learn More About Psychological Richness
- [47:25] Diana’s Summary
- [49:18] Your Daily Practice
- [51:25] Connect With The Podcast
