Baert’s questions
I recently spoke with Stijn Baert, professor of economics at Ghent University. Baert researches, teaches, advises and regularly appears on radio and TV. Busy with all kinds of things. But not too busy. How does he do that?
Baert said that he asks a few questions for every request that will take him more than an hour. At the end of this year, will I be satisfied that I did this? Does this fit with values that are important to me, such as ‘loyalty’ and ‘genuineness’? Can I do it right? And am I going to have fun?
Baert derived his method for agenda management from ACT: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. A popular treatment approach among psychologists.
What is ACT?
ACT is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy developed in the early 1980s by Steven Hayes, now a professor at the University of Nevada. Many forms of therapy attempt to repress, change or avoid negative thoughts and feelings. ACT takes a different approach.
Why? Suppressing thoughts (don’t think about a pink elephant) often leads to them coming back stronger. And avoiding negative feelings (I’d rather cancel that appointment) can prevent you from fully participating in life.
Hayes and his colleagues say: learn to accept negative thoughts and feelings, don’t overreact. Then focus your energy on something else: clarifying your personal values and behavioral goals and committing to them.
Six building blocks
ACT has been tested in several hundred studies and appears to be effective for many complaints, including tension, anxiety and depression. In addition to therapy, the approach is also popular in course form, for self-help and as a coaching method.
Six building blocks, which you can learn through exercises, are central to it.
– Cognitive defusion: do not identify with disturbing thoughts and feelings.
– Acceptance: Let these thoughts and feelings come and go, without struggling with them.
– Contact with the here and now: focus your attention on your immediate environment.
– The observing self: look at your thoughts and feelings from a distance, don’t take them too seriously.
– Values: discover what is really important to you and what kind of person you want to be.
– Dedicated action: formulate concrete goals that match your values and act accordingly.
How do you discover your values?
Applying ACT thoroughly takes time. But you can also just experiment for a week with Stijn Baert’s approach. The most important step: formulating the values with which you select what goes into your agenda.
How do you approach this? You can find all kinds of lists online of values (such as: honesty, compassion, equality) that are used in ACT. A frequently applied approach is to rate those values and thus compile a personal top three, four or five.
Also useful: the online VIA survey from the University of Pennsylvania. Through a questionnaire you discover which values belong to you.
And what you could do right now: read this newspaper and write down which parts make you genuinely angry. There is a good chance that important personal values are at stake.
Ben Tiggelaar writes weekly about personal leadership, work and management.
A version of this article also appeared in the September 30, 2023 newspaper.