Page 79 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

aware of the effectiveness of optimism in your life, you can learn to debate your

own pessimistic thoughts.

The most thorough and useful study I’ve ever seen on how to do this is
contained in Dr. Martin Seligman’s classic work, Learned Optimism. The studies
done by Seligman demonstrate two very profound revelations: 1) optimism is
more effective than pessimism; and 2) optimism can be learned.

Seligman based his findings on years of statistical research. He studied
professional and amateur athletes, insurance salespeople, and even politicians
running for office. His scientific studies proved that optimists dramatically
outperform pessimists. So what Norman Vincent Peale had been saying for years
in his books on the power of positive thinking was finally proven to be
scientifically true.

Peale had based his books on testimonials and supportive biblical passages.
The problem with that was that the people he needed to reach the most—skeptics
and pessimists—were precisely the kinds of people who would not be anxious to
take anything on faith. But once you’ve digested the remarkable writings of
Seligman, you can go back and read Peale with a new sense of excitement. If
you don’t accept his religious references, it doesn’t matter—the personal
testimonials are stimulating enough to give his writing great power. Although his
most famous book is The Power of Positive Thinking, I have derived much more
motivation from Stay Alive All Your Life and The Amazing Results of Positive
Thinking.

If you are now skeptical about your power to debate your own pessimistic
thoughts, keep in mind that most of us are already great debaters. If somebody
comes in and takes one side of an argument, we can usually take the other side
and make a case, no matter which side the first person took. Debate teams have
to learn to do this. Team members never know until the last second which side of
the argument they will be debating, so they learn to be prepared to passionately
argue either side.

If you catch yourself brooding, worrying, and thinking pessimistically about
an issue, the first step is to recognize your thoughts as being pessimistic. Not
wrong or untrue—just pessimistic. And if you are going to get the most out of

your bio-computer (the brain), you must acknowledge that pessimistic thoughts
are less effective.

Once you’ve accepted the pessimistic nature of your thinking, you are ready