How has your day been?

Before we continue, take a minute and reflect on what has happened today. Whether you jot

them down or take a mental note, recognize and notice who you are as you reflect back.

How was that? Was it positive talk “My day is going great! I woke up early and had a great

workout. I was able to accomplish so much work, and had coffee with a co-worker. Or was it

negative talk “My day is terrible. I woke up late and I was not able to get my workout in. I was so

behind on work and at coffee my co-worker gossiped and complained about work the whole

time. I hated today.”

How Optimism is healthy

Did you know that having an optimistic attitude helps us protect and combat depression and

anxiety, allows us to be happier, healthier and more successful. Changing to a more optimistic

outlook makes us more resistant to stress and it may even help us live longer. Who doesn’t

want to live longer?

Visualizing our best possible self will improve our optimism. Spend a few minutes each day

focusing on one thing such as career, romance, or health. You’re probably thinking, well Coach

that is wishful thinking.. It has been studied that imagining our ideal future shifts our mindset and

boosts optimism.

How to be more Optimistic

• Challenge negative self-talk. Replace those pesky pessimistic and intrusive thoughts

with more positive ones. If we change the way we view things the more we will unlearn

helplessness. Flip the scrip and change the conversation with yourself. When we start ot

spiral down pessimism, we aren’t our authentic self.

• Be resilient. If we change the way we view things from why is this happening to me to

what is this teaching me and realize that every moment and every situation is temporary.

Optimism builds our resilience and strengthens us to never give up. Allowing us to keep

our goals and dreams on track and provides motivations, it also makes us feel more in

control of the situation, mindset, and emotions.

• Accept things for how they are. Accept things as they come instead of constantly

living in disappointment or expecting something bad to happen. No one has a crystal ball

that is predicting things to go wrong, It is inevitable to avoid disappointment. By shifting

our mindset from negative expectations that are occasionally proven right to positive

expectations that are occasionally proven wrong , we will recovery rather quickly.

• Changing perspectives. When we intentionally challenge our negative predictions

(again no one has a crystal ball) with positive ones, this enables us to find a middle

ground and help allow us to put things into perspective while boosting our optimism.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

• Train your mind. Take a moment within the present moment to notice good things as

they happen, reminding ourselves that we can make good things happen in our lives to

succeed. Train your mind to see the brighter side of things, unlearn those bad habits of

negative self-talk and pessimistic behaviors. Remind yourself (even if it becomes a

mantra and you say it a thousand times a day) that setbacks are temporary without

blaming yourself (because again no one has a crystal ball predicting bad things), most

importantly give yourself credit for when something does go right, what did you do for the

that outcome and how can always get that outcome. Know what’s in your control and

what’s out of your control, let go of what we can’t control therefore can’t change. Be

mindful of your mind. Your self-worth. Your self-talk. Your self-control.

Optimism is a thinking style that can be learned, which means that pessimism can be

unlearned.