Bernie Michalik's posterous site

A few years back I read a book called "Learned Optimism". It argued that
optimism is something you can learn. It's a good book, but what it really
comes down to are the three Ps: Personal, Pervasive, and Permanent.

Pessimistic thinkers (a category I fall into too often) tend to think that
set backs are personal (it's my fault I failed the test), pervasive (I am a
bad student), and permanent (I will never be a good student). Optimistic
thinkers treat setbacks just the opposite: they don't think they are
personal (I bet everyone had a hard time with that test), pervasive (I do
well normally on tests) or permanent (it's only the first midterm, I can
make up for it later, and in the worse case I can drop the course and take
another in the summer). Likewise, optimistic thinkers tend to think
successes are personal (I did well on that test because I worked really
hard) pervasive (I am going to ace this term) and permanent (I always do
well in school) while pessimists don't think successes are personal (I must
have gotten lucky to get such a good mark), pervasive (I will likely do
badly in my other courses) or permanent (I still am not a good student).

As an exercise, if there is an area where you want to be optimistic, try
applying the three Ps. You can use it to undermine your pessimism and
amplify your optimism. For example, if you want to lose weight, but are
pessimistic about doing it, look for areas where you are applying the three
Ps. Look for statements like "I am" or "I will never" or "Everytime". They
are all signs of the three Ps. If you are pessimistic about losing weight,
you might think "I am a fat such and such" (personal), "I am not good at
getting dieting and exercising and anything to do with that" (pervasive)
and "I will never be able to get in shape" (permanent). You need to tackle
that thinking by looking for examples where you can see the opposite, where
you can find reasons to be optimistic. For example you might think instead
"I am not a fat person, I am someone who was once fit and I can be again, I
can be that person I once was and there is nothing stopping me if I put my
mind to it", (personal) and "there are lots of good eating and fitness
habits I have already: I just need to work on expanding them" (pervasive),
and "body weight is something anyone can change, there is nothing permanent
about it if I put my mind to it" (permanent). In going from being
pessimistic to optimistic you need to attack your negative way of thinking
using the three Ps and replace that with a positive way of thinking, also
using the three Ps. Once you can do that, it will be easier to motivate and
energize yourself to actually make the changes that align with your new way
of thinking.

New years and New Year's Resolutions are coming up. Use this to help you.
All the best to you. You will do great: I am optimistic about that.
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