August 25, 2010

Because pessimism measures (in part) your ability to keep going and not quit in the face of unpleasant or disappointing circumstances, I didn’t expect the book Learned Optimism to have much to say to me.

My whole life has been about not quitting in the face of severe physical problems, depressing family life issues, and major publishing downturns. It’s been about taking responsibility, learning from things, and moving on.

“I’m no quitter” is as much a part of me as my hair color (under the Preference by L’Oreal) and my brown eyes. Yes, I sometimes took on too much. Yes, my health wasn’t always the best. But I always pressed on even if things looked hopeless.

That should earn me a high score on the book’s lengthy optimism test, right?

Um…no.

This Can’t Be Right!

I was shocked. I called my best friend who had read the book and asked what her score was. She got a 9–meaning very high optimism. I’m not surprised. She’s a great encourager.

I got a 0. (Oh, I got +14 on some good stuff, but a -14 on the bad stuff, effectively cancelling out the positives.) The test and research are based on what author Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D. calls your “explanatory style.” It’s how you perceive the reasons behind the good things and bad things that happen to you-and your assumptions about the future.

It’s BIG

According to Seligman, “It matters a great deal if your explanatory style is pessimistic. If you scored poorly, there are four areas where you will encounter (and probably already have encountered) trouble.”

He mentioned that you’ll (1) get depressed more easily, (2) achieve less at your career than your talent warrants [listen, writers!], (3) have poorer physical health and an immune system not as good as it should be, and (4) life won’t be as pleasurable as it should be.

The author assures me that there are many ways to change your thinking in all these areas of your life. Evidently my “explanatory style” needs a major revamping. I’m looking forward to the rest of the book. It’s very research-heavy in the first half, so I may skip to the chapters on “how to fix it.”

Expect to hear more about this in future weeks! In this time of publishing upheaval and downturns, might you benefit from some “learned optimism” yourself?

8 Comments »

1. 

   Looks like I book I really need to read! ;>D

   Comment by Myra Johnson — August 25, 2010 @ 4:18 pm

2. 

   How nice to see your name pop up, Myra! Yes, this is quite a fascinating book. So many thoughts have been part of me all my life–hard-working, self-blaming, responsible kinds of thoughts–that I would never have believed that some of them are the culprits I need to get rid of. I love learning new things that set me free.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — August 26, 2010 @ 7:36 am

3. 

   I was happy to see this post when I returned from vacation, Kristi! Seligman’s Learned Optimism has been so important in my life as a writer, and in general. The research that’s continued since the book first came out has really shown the ability of the brain to grow and change, and the impact of optimistic thinking and heartfelt positive emotions, immense. Barbara Fredrickson’s POSITIVITY highlights a lot of the research in a reader-friendly fashion, if you’re interested. It’s a great follow-up to Seligman, who calls her “the genius of the Positive Psychology movement.”

   Comment by Carol Grannick — August 26, 2010 @ 10:46 am

4. 

   Kristi,

   I can’t believe you got a 0 on that test, if your blog, books, and articles are any indication, you’re one of the most forward thinking self-motivators I know.

   Some of the things you shared and written about in your blog are things I can’t imagine facing myself, and if I have, I don’t handle them a fraction as well as I should/would like to.

   Especially anything that involves intense levels of patience and personal restraint that I don’t always have.

   I hadn’t heard of this book before you mentioned it on your blog, and I’m convinced now that I need to have a copy myself. It’s nice to be reminded you can make things better.

   Once you figure out what’s holding you back in what ways, Krsiti, definitely re-test yourself a few months or years from now. I’m sure you’ll feel the difference over time, but it’s nice to know your on the right track. As you’ve said many times on this blog, confidence you rightly earned will show in how you think and feel about yourself and others.

   In my case, I can honestly say I’m not a quitter, at least when it comes to being a writer. I always want to do better and be better.

   Now if only I could say, “I’m comfortable where I am as a writer” without sounding like a two-faced hypocrite.

   May that day come soon,

   C.J.

   Comment by C .J. Rockwell — August 26, 2010 @ 11:06 am

5. 

   P.S. I also long for the day when I can take criticism about my writing, without feeling like my brain bleeds in shame, my heart aches in disgust, and my anger erupting worse than any volcano above or underwater.

   Especially when I know I did all I could to be my best.

   Comment by C .J. Rockwell — August 26, 2010 @ 11:12 am

6. 

   My first reaction to this post was, “Oh dear. If Kristi, who so often encourages me, got a 0, where does that leave me? -20?”

   I just read Amazon.com’s review. “Pessimists believe that bad events are their fault…” Ouch! Yes, that’s me…

   You make life less overwhelming for me when deciding what resources are truly helpful. If you were a little mouse in the corner of my house, you may find me mumbling to myself, “Hhhmmm… What does Kristi recommend?” Thanks, Kristi, for pointing us to great resources!

   Confession time. Kristi, sometimes I write a post here and the insecure pessimist in me says it sounds stupid and soon deletes it.

   Comment by Trudy — August 26, 2010 @ 11:36 am

7. 

   Looks like a good one! I waffle back and forth between optimism and pessimism. The latter is such defeatist behavior. I find that eating right and getting outside really helps my efforts to remain optimistic!

   Comment by Heather Kephart — August 26, 2010 @ 4:04 pm

8. 

   I hope all of you will read the next post, a follow-up to this one.

   To answer a couple of questions: yes, you can be a good self-motivator or encourager (I scored high there) but you can be so heavy on self-blame or be so overly responsible that it cancels out the positive side. The next post will explain better than this one, I hope! I LOVE uncovering hidden things that are causing me problems with my writing–or anything else, for that matter.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — August 27, 2010 @ 7:49 am

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