This morning I am heading to Wellington to train the staff at the Ministry of Science and Innovation. It’s a conference at our national Museum, Te Papa. So a keynote presentation to 100 of their staff then a workshop in the afternoon. I will be teaching them to be Scientific and Innovative with their emotions.

Unlike the Ministry of Magic, in Harry Potter which seemed to be quite controlling, I am excited about another day on the road giving what I could term our New Zealand Ministry of Magic some tools to become more Emotionally Fit. We need some magic to grow our nation’s growth in things like biotech, technology and science. Becoming Emotionally fit we know helps this process.

Before having too much fun manipulating and being innovative with our emotions, we first need to learn how they work, and how to control them. Understanding how we are wired up, the effect our emotions have on our performance and physiology and how they affect our behavior and relationships are part of the learning process. Whether you are a student of magic with Harry Potter, a PHD with the Ministry of Science and Innovation or one of my colleagues at the Hospital or Dept of Psychological medicine at the University of Auckland, we need to start with the basics.

As a medical student and as a doctor we are taught to describe someone’s mood in terms of their AFFECT. If you have a disturbance of mood such as bipolar disease it is often described as an AFFECTIVE disorder. In retrospect, I can see one reason why it’s called this. Because our Emotions effect our performance. So we can learn to be scientific about our emotions by going through a process, then we become innovative. Then we can control our emotions, rather than them controlling us.

The cool thing about today is that we can introduce another 100 people to some essential tools how they can improve their performance and make a positive impact on their health and contribution to our country’s  growth. Not only that, they will learn how to deal with issues at home as well as at work. Joining me today is Dr. Paul Wood, an Organisational Psychologist to help facilitate the day. It will be a fun day for all.

So despite waking up early in a state of excitement, catching yet another plane, going through another security check taking out my laptops, and delivering Keynote 502 or so, I am as excited as a kid at Christmas. I could choose to look at the barriers ahead or be excited about the possibilities. That’s what being innovative with your emotions does, make life exciting.