creating sustainable results in growth and performance
Strategies for
enhancing
positive illusions, hope, optimism and positive expectations
Positive
illusions
• When
thinking about past experience, focus predominantly on details of positive
events.
•
Psychologically, ring-fence areas where you have poor skills or personal
characteristics that you have but do not like. Define these as exceptions
to your predominantly competent and attractive self-image.
Optimism
• For any
situation in which you attribute adversity to intrinsic, global stable
attributes identify the Adversity, the pessimistic Beliefs, and Consequent
negative mood change on a 10-point scale.
• Distract
yourself from adversity and rumination by saying STOP, by snapping
yourself with an elastic band, or by focusing on another activity or
object.
• Distance
yourself from the pessimistic explanation by noting that there are other
explanations.
• Dispute the
pessimistic beliefs by checking the evidence for the pessimistic
explanation and an optimistic alternative where you attribute adversity to
extrinsic, specific and transient situational factors.
• Notice how
distraction, distancing and disputing lead your mood to change positively
to Energise you.
Hope
• To generate
hope in a particular situation, formulate clear goals, produce numerous
pathways to these, pursue your goals and reframe obstacles as challenges
to be overcome.
Positive
expectations
• To reduce
risk taking that may foreshorten your lifespan, develop incentives to help
you to value the future more than the present.
What
you are willing to take responsibility for can be changed.
