The Benefits of Optimism
By Rich Bayer, Ph.D.
In 1988, Olympic swimmer Matt
Biondi was favored to win all seven events he had entered. Preparing for
his first event, the 200-meter freestyle, he shook himself a little to get
loose and set his mind on winning. At the gun, he hit the water and gave
it his all but when the waves had settled at the end of the race, he had
finished a disappointing third. In his second event, the 100-meter
butterfly, he led the field until the last two meters where he was caught
and he finished second. The commentators speculated that this was such a
crushing blow to him that it would break his concentration in the coming
events and detract from his performance. He went on however to win gold in
all five of his remaining events.
How did Biondi do it? Aside from being an outstanding
swimmer, he was also an exceptional optimist. He had reassured himself,
after the first two losses, that he would do better in his upcoming
events.
This simple act of positive psychology may have been
all he needed. Psychologist Martin Seligman, author of the book Learned
Optimism, studied Biondi and hundreds of other optimists as part of
his ongoing research. Optimism has been defined by some researchers as
simply seeing the silver lining, and by others as a personality trait.
Seligman took a different approach and began to study it as an explanatory
style. He suggests that your explanation for why something happens has a
major impact on how you will act in the future and what result your
actions will bring about. This in turn has an eventual impact on your
self-esteem and self-image.
Seligman actually started by studying depression. One
key factor in depression is personal control. People become depressed when
they feel they have no control over their lives and experience a sense of
helplessness.
When studying the causes of depression, Seligman
discovered that there were groups of people who should be depressed but
who weren’t. He found that there were some people who had every reason
to be depressed—people who were going through the stress of a divorce or
being forced to move from their home or experiencing the death of a loved
one—but who did not succumb to severe depression.
In studying these folks, Seligman learned that they
all had one thing in common. They were all optimistic. He learned about
some traits of optimism too. They are:
1)
Positive anticipation of the future: Optimists say to
themselves, “Things might be bad right now but they will get better
soon” or “I might be having problems right now but I’ll do better in
the future.”
2)
Not letting past failures overwhelm you: Optimists keep
moving on. They do not linger on their mistakes or failures.
3)
Three P’s of optimism: Pervasive... Optimists are
optimistic in almost all situations they encounter and think that good
things happen for global reasons (“I'm smart” or “I'm good” as
opposed to “I'm good at this one thing”). Permanence… Optimists
believe that good events happen due to permanent causes (“I did well
because I am a hard worker”) and bad events due to temporary causes
(“the boss yelled at me because he’s in a bad mood today”).
Pessimists think the opposite, good events happen for temporary causes and
bad events happen due to permanent causes (“the boss yelled at me
because I always make mistakes”). And not Personal… Optimists don’t
take things personally. They tend to attribute difficulties to outside
causes as opposed to personal failings. They realize “it’s not all
about me.”
When Seligman identified people who think
optimistically, he found it was a learned behavior. That means you can
teach someone to be optimistic. He also found that there are some benefits
to being optimistic. For instance, optimists tend to be healthier and live
longer, are more satisfied in their relationships, are more successful in
work and school and in athletics, and are happier with life than
pessimists.
Finally, Seligman researched how to become more
optimistic. He even developed a curriculum to teach children how to become
optimistic. His ideas are clearly described in Learned Optimism and
his other books, with numerous good examples of what he means. One way to
improve your level of optimism is to read one of his books and apply his
principles. Here are two brief examples of what he suggests:
- Replace
pessimistic thoughts with optimistic thoughts by disputing the
pessimistic thought in your mind. You can do this by finding data or
evidence to show that your pessimistic thought is not accurate. For
example, you don't always talk too loudly, only sometimes.
- Distract
yourself from a recurrent pessimistic thought by training yourself to
recognize when the pessimistic thought occurs. When it occurs, think
STOP and picture a stop sign. Then think of something positive and
pleasant to replace the pessimistic thought.
These skills are not as easy as they seem. They take
practice but the results can be profound. This is some great stuff that
can make a real difference in your life.
------------------------------------
Rich Bayer, Ph.D., is the CEO of Upper
Bay Counseling and Support Services, Inc. and a practicing psychologist.
For More Information Contact:
Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services, Inc.
200 Booth Street, Elkton, MD 21921
Tel: 410-996-5104
Toll Free: 877-587-7750
FAX: 410-996-5197
Internet: info@upperbay.org
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