Resilience & Learned
Optimism
Two psychological traits that can
help you in life
“Here men from the planet
Earth
first set foot upon the moon.
July
1969 A.D. We came in peace
for
all mankind.”
– plaque on Apollo 11 lunar module
Psychological Traits
The Apollo space program suffered many
setbacks before Apollo 11 landed the first man
on the moon.
Certain psychological traits can help you in life–
especially when you’re facing difficult
challenges
or setbacks.
Let’s look at what research in psychology
shows about two of those traits:
Resilience and Optimism.
Definition of Resilience
Have you ever heard a person described as being resilient?
What does that adjective mean to you?
Resilience: the ability to bounce back after a setback or
stressor.
Do you know any resilient people?
Definition of Resilience
Have you ever heard a person described as being resilient?
What does that adjective mean to you?
Resilience: the ability to bounce back after a setback or
stressor.
Do you know any resilient people?
Despite falling during doing her vault routine, Simone
Biles still
won the 2018 World Gymnastics Championship held in
Qatar.
Are you a resilient person?
Do you think you’re good at coping with difficult
situations and overcoming challenges?
How would you rate yourself now, from 1 (poor) to 5
(great) in terms of your resiliency?
Are you a resilient person?
Do you think you’re good at coping with difficult
situations and overcoming challenges?
How would you rate yourself now, from 1 (poor) to 5
(great) in terms of your resiliency?
Here is an online quiz you can take to
get a more accurate measurement:
https://resiliencyquiz.com/index.shtml
Resilient people rebound
Resilient people tend to be more successful in life.
They overcome challenges more quickly and can emerge
from difficulties with even greater strength and resources.
What kinds of things can a person
learn from going through a difficult
experience?
Resilient people rebound
A lot of it has to do with how you “frame” a situation
and how you ”talk to yourself” about it.
Resilient people rebound
A lot of it has to do with how you “frame” a situation
and how you ”talk to yourself” about it.
How do you view challenges?
How do you “talk to yourself?”
Let’s say you have a big test coming up. Which way are you more likely
to think about it?
A: This is manageable. If I prepare properly, I can handle this.
B. This is disastrous! I’m doomed!
What about if you messed up on something – how are you likely to think
about it afterwards?
A: That was unfortunate, but it’s over. What can I change so that it doesn’t
happen again?
B: I’m such a screw-up! Nothing I do ever goes right!
How about if you had your hopes set on something, and it didn’t happen?
A: I’m disappointed, but I’ll keep trying until I succeed.
B: I’m devastated and now I’m going to give up.
Which of these two types of responses is more likely to lead to success in
the end?
Good News: You can become more
resilient!
You can practice and learn better ways of framing situations
and talking to yourself, so that you can build greater resilience.
Good News: You can become more
resilient!
Professor Martin Seligman, from the University of Pennsylvania,
believes that our way of thinking, and talking to ourselves,
plays a major role in how we face difficulties in our lives.
One way leads to flourishing, and the other to difficulties.
The Difference Between an Optimist and a
Pessimist
Do you know the difference
between an optimist and
a pessimist?
According to Prof. Seligman’s
research, the mindset of optimism
is more likely
to lead to positive outcomes.
More Good News!
Even if you’re naturally pessimistic (many of us
are), you can still develop the skill of optimism,
so that you have better outcomes in your life.
In other words: you can CHOOSE the thoughts
that you think. So, you might as well choose
thoughts that will help you in your life!
Optimism
We ALL experience a bad situation (adversity) from time
to time.
What matters is what you say to yourself about it.
A pessimist will explain a bad situation to themselves
like this:
“It will never change, it’s my fault, and it ruins
everything.”
In other words, it’s permanent, personal, and
pervasive.
Optimism
An optimist turns this around to make
it temporary, impersonal, and specific.
In other words, “It won’t last, and even
though
this one area of my life is affected right
now,
other parts of my life are going just fine.”
Learned Optimism
Let’s look at a few examples:
You walk into the cafeteria alone, and all the seats where your friends are
sitting
are taken. You have to sit at a different table. What do you say to
yourself?
Learned Optimism
The pessimistic response:
Permanent, personal, and pervasive
I don’t have any friends and no one
will ever want to sit with me. They
hate me and my day is ruined!
The optimistic response:
Temporary, impersonal, and specific
I see that my normal lunchmates are over there today.
It’s probably because they’re all on the volleyball team.
Who shall I sit with today?
Practice Learned Optimism
You invite someone over, and you get turned down.
The pessimistic response: Permanent, personal, and pervasive
The optimistic response: Temporary, impersonal, and specific
Practice Learned Optimism
Your teacher gives a pop quiz in class, and you
get a “D.”
The pessimistic response: Permanent, personal, and
pervasive
The optimistic response: Temporary, impersonal, and
specific
Practice Learned Optimism
You really wanted to make the team, but you got
cut after tryouts.
The pessimistic response: Permanent, personal, and pervasive
The optimistic response: Temporary, impersonal, and specific
Optimism
You know who else got cut from the team in high school?
This guy:
How do you think he responded?
Optimism
Michael Jordan’s response to
being cut from his high
school’s
varsity basketball team:
“Everybody goes through
disappointments, it’s how
you
overcome those
disappointments.
I just wasn’t good enough.
In terms
of the best thing that could
happen
to me was to get cut,
‘cause it made
me go back and get caught
up with
my skill level at my
Practice makes perfect
Optimism is a skill that can be learned, but it takes practice.
Learning to challenge pessimistic thoughts and replace them
with optimistic explanations reduces anxiety and depression
and increases your ability to overcome and bounce back from
life’s tough moments.
Your mind is a garden
The thoughts are the
seeds
You can plant flowers
Or you can plant weeds
What will you
plant?
The Choice is
Yours
