We’re very excited to bring you this interview with Professor Karen Pine, co-founder of Do Something Different. Karen is a renowned researcher in Developmental Psychology, a popular women’s writer, and a sought-after speaker and media contributor. And just like us at Do What You Love, she believes in a life without limits. Karen steps out of her comfort zone and tries something new on a daily basis. She says: “Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting to get a different result. Many people are keen to improve their lives and the message is simple: if you want to get something different you have to do something different…”
Karen doing a radio interview
1. How are you leading a life ‘doing what you love’?
I had an active career as an academic psychologist for many years, but deep down I wanted to do something that really made a difference to the lives of many, many people. When I co-founded Do Something Different five years ago that was when I knew I was doing what I love. I set it up with my husband, Professor Ben Fletcher, and a team of lovely and brilliant people who are also committed to making the world a better place.
Karen and her husband, Professor Ben Fletcher at Bilgi University, Istanbul
2. What’s your background?
I spent 10 years in advertising and PR and also ran several businesses before training to be a psychologist. I studied while my children were young and finished my PhD in 1997. I went on to hold positions at the University of Hertfordshire, where I am still a Professor part-time, and also at Bilgi University in Istanbul.
3. Psychologist, author, speaker and businesswoman – how do you find the time to do it all? What’s the secret of your success?
I’ve had to prioritise what I do, sometimes I still feel I take on too much. I suffer from that ubiquitous female trait of wanting to please everyone and saying ‘yes’ to too many things. But I am getting better at picking the right things to say yes to. I’m also at a stage of my life where my kids have grown-up and are living independent lives so I don’t have to do all the family-juggling that many younger women grapple with nowadays. I also have an incredibly supportive husband, which helps! I do Kundalini yoga every morning and am very good at keeping stress out of my life. Also, I don’t have a TV and, believe me, that’s the biggest time-saver of all!
4. What does a typical day look like for you?
It depends what I’m doing. A couple of days a week I’m in Brighton at the Do Something Different offices, which is always a whirlwind of fun and creativity. Then I’ll spend time at the Uni, seeing students and supervising their research, from undergraduate level to PhDs. I also do quite a lot or radio, PR and TV work. I really love days I get working and writing from home and I’m very motivated so getting stuff done is never an issue. And because I love what I do I find the lines between work and play are quite blurred, so I can be ‘working’ all the time but actually I’m having fun. I might be designing an on-line programme based on my book Mind What You Wear, helping people to wear something different and express their true selves. Or tomorrow, for example, I’m off to the Netherlands to talk at a world health conference about how Do Something Different is transforming people’s mental and physical health around the globe. Then next week I’m flying to Milan working with one of the top fashion houses, to help their teams to improve results by doing something different. Then Ben and I will spend a week hiding away behind a mountain on the Isle of Skye, writing, reading and cooking venison!
One of five books Karen has co-written based on the Do Something Different approach
5. Tell us more about your company ‘Do Something Different’ – what do you offer and how is it changing people’s lives?
We change people one ‘Do’ at a time! A ‘Do’ is a small positive action that comes by text or email and shifts you out of your comfort zone into doing something that’s different and better for you. There’s a lot of psychology behind it. We profile people first so we know what their habits are and our system then generates ‘Dos’ that are appropriate for them and that are going to be the most psychologically powerful.
It’s all about doing rather than thinking. Many big corporates appreciate this because after sending people on a training course they often find that not much changes, people go back to doing what they always did. People are habit machines! Our ‘Dos’ catch them when they are being habitual and make them do something different, so it’s an effective way of embedding training or making behaviour change happen ‘on the job’.
Our public health programmes have produced huge shifts in behaviour – people start to exercise more and have healthier diets when they Do Something Different. Most importantly though is that all our programmes bring about significant reductions in people’s anxiety and depression (which we measure before and after a programme). Our recent Do Happiness programme, run in conjunction with Action for Happiness, for example found that 66% of people who were clinically depressed or anxious before the programme were at a healthy level afterwards. That’s without seeing a therapist or clinician, but by becoming more behaviourally flexible and having ways to break the habits that were harming their health. We are thrilled to bits with those results and with the lovely stories that people tell us of how it’s changed their lives.
6. What can someone expect when they join one of your programmes?
They sign up online, get profiled, then the system generates a programme of ‘Dos’ for them that are delivered via text and/or email over a number of weeks. They can be remeasured at the end and see how they’ve changed. There’s an online sharing area for people to post what they’re doing differently, be inspired and get support. It’s a simple method but it’s backed by decades of scientific research and I believe we have the most sophisticated online behaviour change system in the world.
7. You’ve co-written a book, Flex: Do Something Different, with your partner Ben. What’s the idea behind it?
Flex outlines all the science behind Do Something Different and the research we’ve done. It also contains some practical exercises which are designed to help people Do Something Different in their own lives.
8. Can you share a few tips for ‘flexing’ to help us feel more in control, happier and less stressed…
Think of your personality as a set of tools. Most of us have quite a limited set. To really cope with everything that life can throw at you it helps to have a large tool-kit, or what we call a large ‘behavioural repertoire’. That means using behaviours that might feel alien to you sometimes; so, for example, we would send an extravert to a library or get them to be very quiet in a meeting. The more behaviourally flexible we are the more resilient and less stressed we are because then we have the appropriate response for a whole range of situations. We expand the behavioural repertoire which also stretches their comfort zone and they become much more open to life and to new possibilities.
9. What do you like most about being a psychologist and what advice would you give anyone looking to follow the same career path?
I find people endlessly fascinating but also extremely complex. I think that understanding how they tick makes life so much easier – there’s always an explanation for even the most bizarre behaviour! I would advise anyone setting out on this path to follow their passion and be prepared to have to study hard – but to never lose their curiosity or independence of thought.
10. What do you think the key is to following and fulfilling a passion and ultimately ‘doing what you love’?
Get rid of your TV.
Karen showing how to do fashion differently
Karen’s snapshot…
Happiest times: Having a candle-lit home-cooked dinner with Ben – perhaps with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and Gavin Bryers on the stereo.
Best place to people watch: Any café in Brighton.
Most inspiring book you’ve read: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Best light-bulb moment: Realising that the people at the top are no smarter than any of the rest of us.
Philosophy you live by: You don’t have to lead the life other people want you to lead.
What will you do differently today? Find out more about Karen’s work and Do Something Differently here.
