Be Optimistic – Confidence and the Personal Development Mindset

This post appeared first in the blog at our Personal Development Coaching Website

Optimists see Good around them – they focus on the positive! That means the impact of negative things is very much reduced!

Pessimists – do just the opposite. They concentrate on negative events and so miss out on the full impact of lots of good things.

Research suggests that whether we are optimists or pessimists depends to some extent on our genetic make up – we are born with a tendency that way. But environment and how we grow up also plays a part.

Think about your own experience – as you were growing up, did those around see life in a negative or a positive way? What effect do you think that had on you?

But we know that on the whole optimists are happier and research suggests that they are also healthier and live longer. They appear to suffer less from depression and they recover more quickly from illness. Pessimism drains you and wears you out. You feel just plain tired of all that negativity!

But here is the good news!

You can train yourself to be an optimist and it is not that hard to do! If you are prepared to put in some time and effort, it is never too late to become an optimist.

The Optimism Pledge - Three Good Things A Day

Make a commitment that for the next two weeks you will make a list of three good things that have happened each day.

Start a journal today and arrange a date with yourself to sit quietly for 10 minutes each evening reflecting on the day and finding three good things that have happened. They can be from the most simple to the most grand.

Once you have decided what they are, write a description and why you feel good about them. Make your description colourful and feel the pleasure as you write!

Now you will understand what thinking positive feels like. Optimists think like this nearly all of the time but they do not realise that this is what they do.

You too can learn how to feel optimism, if you continue this exercise until you can do it without consciously thinking about. For most people it takes about two weeks.

I wish you well and I wish you optimism. I would love to hear about your results!

You can find out more about the Personal Development Mindset at this link

Wendy Mason is a Life and Career Coach with an interest in management, leadership and in change - both personal (career and life out side of work) and within organizations. You can email her at this link or ring ++44(0)2084610114

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