How to Have a More Optimistic Mindset (PsyCap 2)

What is Optimism?

Is optimism just about seeing the cup as half full? Does having an optimistic mindset imply being naïve and negligent in one’s assessment of risk? There is such a thing as unrealistic optimism. This involves overestimating the likelihood of positive events and underestimating the likelihood of negative events. However, in this article I am not talking about or advocating an unrealistic optimism. I am refering to learned optimism. Through this perspective you acknowledge difficulties, but explain them more productively compared to those who are pessimistic. Because of this, optimistic people are more likely to have:

• Higher levels of subjective well-being
• Better physical health
• Better mental health
• Higher motivation
• Longer lifespan
• Better job performance
• Lower levels of stress
• Higher quantity and quality of social relationships
• Better coping skills
• More positive emotions
• Better problem solving skills

In case you missed the first article in this series, we are learning to train Psychological Capital (PsyCap). PsyCap has four dimensions: self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience. For the last post we focused on self-efficacy. This is the belief in one’s ability to succeed and reach desirable outcomes. In the next few articles, we focus on the dimension of optimism and will learn how to enhance it.

Having an Optimistic Mindset to Relate to the Past, Present and Future

Optimism involves how we relate to the past, present and future. The past is over, but it may still haunt us or hold us back. Optimism training helps one to accept the past. Whether good or bad there is nothing we can do to change what’s happened. We can, nevertheless, learn from the past and determine how we move forward.

Regarding the present we can learn to make the most of it and have more positive experiences here and now. As for the future, we may live in fear and uncertainty about what is to come. Through optimism training, we can learn to have reasonable, positive expectations regarding the future.

Am I optimistic?

What makes one optimistic? Optimism is about 25% genetic. Then there are external factors that affect our positivity such as socioeconomic status. These are often out of our control. Nevertheless, this leaves a lot of wiggle room to learn optimism. One’s degree of optimism ultimately depends on their explanatory style.

When things happen, whether good or bad, how do you explain them? How do you process, interpret and assign meaning to the things that happen to you? This is an important question. Our explantory style can minimize or exacerbate the negative effects of stress. How we explain things also determines to a great extent if we stay motivated or feel defeated and vulnerable in the midst of adversity.

The three dimensions of one’s explanatory style are permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization (the three Ps). Seligman defines these in his book Learned optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. Optimistic and pessimistic explanatory styles differ greatly along these dimensions. Let’s take a closer look using some practical examples.

Optimistic Mindset – Permanence

Permanence refers to the perceived longevity of events or circumstances.

Negative Event

Let’s say you get a bad performance review. A person with a pessimistic outlook is more inclined to believe that no matter what they do, they’ll always be evaluated poorly; In contrast, a person with an optimistic mindset would acknowledge that this time their performance was not up to par. However, they know through hard work it’s possible to achieve great results next time.

With such a mindset, you view the negative situation as an exception, not the rule. As temporary, not permanent.

Positive Event

You won over an important client! Those who have an optimistic mindset are inclined to believe that this positive trend will continue. Therefore, by working hard it’s just a matter of time before you land the next big project. With a more pessimistic viewpoint, you would think that this success happened by chance. It was a lucky shot and the next attempts will probably fail.

Optimism Enhancement Tipps

Replace limiting and fatalistic phrases such as “never”, “always” and “all the time” with temporary and changeable phrases such as “this time” or “next time”. Furthermore, you can replace “can’t” with “not yet”. With this adjustment, you no longer view difficult situations as unchangeable. Rather, you allow room for things to get better; you enable yourself to bring about positive change.

Optimistic Mindset – Pervasiveness

Pervasiveness refers to the extent that outcomes in one area affect one’s beliefs about outcomes in other areas.

Negative Event

Those with a pessimistic explanatory style may catastrophize when they have an unsuccessful meeting with a client. They may think that everything in their life is doomed to fail. In other words, this failure impacts their beliefs about their ability to succeed in other areas. A person who has an optimistic explanatroy style would realize that this failure is local. It cannot be generalized to all other situations. Therefore, the failure is not pervasive.

Positive Event

For those with a pessimistic explanatory style, having a great meeting with a client is less likely to have a positive effect on other life domains. By contrast, those with a more positive perspective would believe that this success is proof they can be successful in other areas. For example, in their relationships or reaching fitness goals.

Optimism Enhancement Tipps

Ask yourself, “How contagious will I allow this bad event to be”? If you had a bad day at work, will it result in you having a bad time with the family? Will you let it ruin your whole day?

Replace catastrophizing self-talk and thoughts that often use the words “everything” and “nothing” with language that focuses on “this thing” or “this matter”. Let’s say you have an unsuccessful meeting with a client. In this scenario, a catastrophizing response would be “I am not good at my job and don’t belong here”. Such a phrase, can be replaced with, “I need to improve how I communicate with clients. However, I am really good at doing market research. In addition, I add value by identifying promising new product features.”

Optimistic Mindset – Personalization

Personalization refers to the extent to which a person sees themselves vs. external factors as the source of a positive or negative occurrence.

Negative Event

Those with a pessimistic explanatory style blame themselves way too much. For example, if you lose your flow of thought in a presentation, a pessimistic response may be, “I am so stupid”. On the other hand, those with an optimistic attributional style are more likely to place the blame on external factors or poor execution. They may say, “I got distracted” or “I went blank for a moment.”

Positive Event

Let’s say you give a great presentation. With a pessimistic perspective you would downplay this success. You might say, “Probably anyone could have done just as well.” Or you would say, “It went well because the topic was not so difficult”. With an optimistic perspective you would contribute the success to your own abilities. You would something more like: “I am a good presenter. I worked hard on this and it paid off”.

Optimism Enhancement Tipps

The key to enhancing optimism along this dimension is to separate performance from the performer. Instead of criticizing yourself as a person, it would be more beneficial to use skill or performance critical phrases. Because you gave a poor presentation, it does not mean you are a poor presenter. Instead of saying, “I am a terrible presenter”, say, “My presentation was not so good”. Such a shift in mindset gives you room to improve. As a result, you will not fall into a mental trap that hinders your development.

Summary

In this post we learned that optimism is a state of mind that correlates with better physical and mental health. Other positive outcomes include higher motivation, longer lifespan, better job performance and lower levels of stress. We are not referring to an optimism bias or unrealistic optimism. On the contrary, the goal is to develop a more positive perspective that can help us to develop personally.

One’s degree of optimism depends on their explanatory style, which is comprised of the three dimensions: permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization – also know as the three Ps. Those with a more pessimistic explanatory style consider negative events as permanent. In addition, problems in one domain casue them to have negative beliefs about outcomes in other unrelated domains. Furthermore, they tend to blame themselves for negative outcomes, even when beyond their control.

On the contrary, those with a more optimistic explanatory style are more likely to view negative events as temporary and something that is localized to one domain. Furthermore, they tend to attribute failure to external circumstances or things that they can improve on in the future.

Have you ever thought or said the following?

• This will never end
• Things will always be like this
• This will never get better
• I mess up all the time
• I can’t do it
• Everything is a mess
• Nothing works out
• I’m just a big failure
• I’m good for nothing
• I will never make it
• It’s all my fault
• I’m terrible

I sure have. Optimism training is something we can all benefit from. For a great optimism enhancement exercise, take a look at my next article on the ABCDE model.

References

de Meza D, Dawson C. Neither an Optimist Nor a Pessimist Be: Mistaken Expectations Lower Well-Being. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2020 Jul 6

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/how-train-your-brain-be-more-optimistic-ncna795231

Seligman, M.E.P. 2006. Learned optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. New York: Vintage Books