Discover How Optimism Can Help You

by Jessica J. Lockhart - humanologist, writer and international speaker

Optimists are really down to earth

Many people believe that optimists are always happy, go-lucky human beings who worry about nothing and just let life take them places. They couldn't be more mistaken. Those would be mindless or brainless people; nothing to do with optimism. In fact, optimists are really down to earth.

Optimists don't give up because they have hope

The main true difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that the former never gives up while the latter gives up right away. Or, in other words, the optimist has hope; hope that his efforts will yield the results he wants; hope that his new attempt will be the right one; hope that his growing skills will be enough. Hope is inherent because optimists don't give up; and optimists don't give up because they have hope. Let me clarify this a bit.

When an optimist finds an obstacle,...

• he first tries to overcome it by using the tricks and tools that already worked fine in the past.
• If those don't do it, he will then try and use others he might have heard about.
• Failing those, he will apply his creativity and common sense to find a way.

Optimists end up accumulating much more expertise and mastery

All in all, then, the optimist constantly uses knowledge and experience in a very logical way and then adds imagination and deduction, if things get hard. As a result, optimists end up accumulating much more expertise and mastery than pessimist, who typically gave up at the beginning.

But doing that, optimists also learn how flexible they, as they keep on stretching their boundaries and going one step further every time. This attitude results in more open-mindedness and a greater set of skills, as time goes by.

While pessimists remain stuck in the impossibility of things, optimists soar on the wings of common sense and hope

How can somebody recover that lost optimism, then? How can one go from hopelessness to this great power? It's a learning process, the first step of which requires the will to learn. Are you ready? Are you really willing to step out of that constant negation and fear and risk hoping things will be better?

You will be rewiring your brain for hope

If you are, start by not giving up. Continue reading and use what you learn today to embrace a new way of life. Because optimism and pessimism do indeed impact our way of life deeply, as shown by the examples mentioned above. From now on, every time you find an obstacle in your life, no matter what field it is in, ask yourself: what three ways could there be to overcome this obstacle? This little question might prove a bit hard at the beginning, specially if you're not used to allowing yourself this optimistic worldview but things will get easier with more experience. Once you have the three possible answers, try them all. Test them. See which one works best. Don't just use one but all three and compare them. By doing this, you will be rewiring your brain into believing that other ways are also possible; you will be rewiring your brain for hope.

Apply this little technique for a couple of weeks and you'll soon find yourself thinking faster and feeling a bit more hopeful inside. You might also sense a bit more power in yourself, as your level of achievement and satisfaction both grow little by little.

One more thing. Every time you manage to find and use those 3 different approaches and succeed at doing whatever it is that you were trying to do, give yourself a pat in the back or celebrate it any way you can. That celebration will strengthen your new ways in your brain, making the change easier and faster.

This is but the tip of the iceberg. Try it, it's simple enough, and you will see how fast the change happens. Be honest with yourself and do the exercise properly; do not boicot your attempts. I'm pretty certain you will soon come back for more, as there is a whole method available for your: optimism coaching gives you all the tools and tips you need to recover the power you were born with. Have a taste today and come back for more.

Details: info@instituteofhumanology.com