A person looking for beauty will find wonder. A person looking for threats will find danger. Can you imagine those two explanatory styles approaching the edge of the Grand Canyon?

Martin Seligman did breakthrough work at The University of Pennsylvania. He is called the father of positive psychology. Dr. Seligman found that happy and unhappy people differ broadly by explanatory style. Seligman did deep work on optimism vs. pessimism.

He found that optimism is associated with better health and longer life. Optimism is even a predictor of which survivors of a heart attack are likely to suffer a second heart attack. He also found that expecting a positive outcome from negotiations significantly increased the likelihood of those positive outcomes. He even found that optimists are luckier because they persevere and create more opportunities by thinking positively.

Explanatory style is a big deal, but it is not innate – it is learned. This is excellent news because anything learned can be un or relearned.

Seligman revealed that when something bad happens, pessimists will believe it will last a long time (I will never get out of this). It is universal (People suck!) 

And it’s their fault. (I’m awful at this. No wonder I’m screwed)

Optimists believe issues are transient, specific to time/place/event, and that they will come out slightly damaged but that they will come out of it.

In a simple illustration, hitting a traffic jam can spawn a thought that says. “OMG, I will NEVER get there. Of course, there’s traffic, that’s Jersey! This ALWAYS happens to me. I knew I should have left earlier.”

                                       OR

“Oh man, traffic. Jeez, this sucks. Maybe it will open up soon. It’s probably some road work or something. I think I will cue up that podcast to pass the time.”

I’m sure that somewhere, optimists are sitting in stop-dead traffic and cussing out loud about missing a flight or an important meeting. Being optimistic doesn’t mean being Pollyanna. It means that one interprets most inconveniences as just that, inconveniences, not life-changing events. Pessimists tend to think that events are pervasive, permanent, and personal. 

Optimism, according to the research, results in a happier life.

The thing I love about Seligman’s work is that it is hopeful. Even Eeyore is capable of a bit of self-examination and a decision to change his explanatory style.

Own Your Sales Gene…