Gift feeling good.
Part writing for wellbeing. Part mail club.
Feel calmer, clearer and more in control.
52 science-backed writing activities. Delivered weekly.
Small acts of self-care. No woo woo.
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What’s involved?
Writing for wellbeing + the science of why it works. (Oh, and there are stickers.)
The digital activities
A new activity unlocks each week.
Designed to help with things like stress, self-awareness, emotional processing and problem-solving.
First activity unlocks when you sign up. The sticker book comes in the mail with your welcome pack. The stickers land every month after.
The science bit
After you've completed an activity, you get 'the reveal'.
What you were doing, how it helps, the psychology that's at work and how you can take it on into daily life.
The sticker book
A physical reminder of the progress you're making.
Complete an activity, add a sticker. See the book fill up. (Think Panini sticker book, but for mental health.)
The stickers
Every month, your next sticker pack comes through your letterbox.
A four-weekly ritual of marking the activities you've done and lessons learned.
The live sessions
Club members can join quarterly live writing workshops for free.
45 minutes of activities you won't find in the online programme.
If writing were a pill...
it'd be considered a medical marvel.
Here are just a few of the benefits:
01
Reduced stress levels
People who write regularly make fewer stress-related visits to the doctor.
(Pennebaker & Beall, 1986; Davidson et al, 2002.)
02
Improved
mood
Expressive writing improves mood — not just in the moment, but in the weeks and months after.
(Pennebaker et al, 1988; Páez et al, 1999.)
03
Sharper thinking
Expressive writing quiets mental noise: giving your brain more capacity to focus and think clearly.
(Klein & Boals, 2001; Yogo & Fujihara, 2008.)
04
Better
sleep
People who write about emotional experiences fall asleep faster than those who don't.
(Harvey & Farrell, 2003.)
05
Stronger
connections
Self-disclosure through writing relieves stress and strengthens the relationships that matter.
(Pennebaker & Graybeal, 2001.)
06
Better physical health
Writing has been linked to improved immune function and lower blood pressure.
(Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser, 1988.)
Activity first, reveal after: the generation effect
When you produce information, you remember it significantly better than if you passively receive it.
We could just tell you about the benefits of writing, but when you do the activities, you feel the effects and remember them.
(Roediger & Karpicke, 2006)
The writing is all you: the IKEA effect
The sticker book: the Zeigarnik effect
Unfinished tasks niggle at us. So a half-filled sticker book is hard to ignore, and helps keep Self(ish) in the back of your mind. You’ll want to keep coming back to it.
It’s the same reason you can’t stop watching a TV series after a cliffhanger episode.
(Zeigarnik, 1938)
Stickers to collect: set completion
Humans have a deep drive to finish what they've started, especially when they can see the end.
Adding your stickers to your book reminds you how you’re progressing and the empty slots show how close you are to completing each month, and the book.
(Carey, 2008)
The monthly deliveries: anticipatory reward scheduling
Anticipating a reward produces a stronger dopamine response than actually receiving it.
Knowing a set of stickers is on its way gives you a nice hit of the “feel good” hormone before the envelope lands on your doormat.
(Sapolsky, 2017)
Different designs: variable reward theory
Uncertain rewards produce stronger responses than predictable ones. That’s why every sticker is different. You get a little surprise each month.
Your brain finds that more compelling than knowing what’s coming.
(Skinner, 1938; Schultz, Dayan & Montague, 1997)
The welcome pack: the effort heuristic
The more considered something feels, the more we value it. Which is why your welcome pack comes in an obnoxiously bright bubble mailer and your sticker book is printed on heavy-stock paper and has that can't-stop-stroking-it cover.
And why it took 4+ years of research and writing to get the activities just right.
(Kruger, Wirtz, Van Boven & Altermatt, 2004)
(Pierce, Kostova & Dirks, 2003)
More science?
When most people were watching the first Top Gun and wearing double denim, James Pennebaker PhD was conducting his seminal study into the benefits of expressive writing.
All of our writing activities draw on the findings of the 40 years of research that followed.
And the science doesn’t stop there. We’ve plugged cognitive and behavioural psychology into all the mechanics that make up the Self(ish) methodology.
Here's what's
at work...
People value things they’ve had a hand in creating significantly more than identical things they haven’t.
The writing involved in Self(ish) is yours. Your words, your notebook, your thoughts and feelings put down on a page.
(Norton, Mochon & Ariely, 2012)
Something to have and to hold: psychological ownership
We value things more when they feel like ours. Something that arrives in the post, that you hold in your hands, that sits on your desk — feels more yours than something that lives on a screen.
Which is why Self(ish) doesn't just exist as an online programme.
Why Self(ish)?
Self-care is sometimes mistaken for selfishness.
But studies have shown that the more we take care of ourselves, the better we can care for others.
Sounds obvious, but it's easy to forget.
And we're all a work in progress. Hence the 'ish' in the name.
The 100 year pledge
We're giving away 100 free memberships.
You can nominate someone you thinks deserves 12-months of Self(ish).
We'll be drawing winners every month.