If you're not especially optimistic, could you learn to be? Dr. Martin Seligman thinks you can. After writing Learned Optimism in 1990, what he calls "positive psychology" became the theme of his professional life.
As a child watching his father suffer from feelings of helplessness, the boy Martin decided to dedicate his life to finding a way to assist such people. He found that helplessness is "at the core of the phenomenon of pessimism. Helplessness is the state of affairs in which nothing you choose to do affects what happens to you."
Even if you have the valuable qualities of talent and desire but you're also a pessimist, you may still not achieve your goals. That's because, "Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter."
The Little Engine That Could has taught children for decades the concept that they can indeed affect outcomes with effort. To solve problems, you must think that what you do matters. Or else you could move toward pessimism and depression.
No comments:
Post a Comment