Dr. Mia Mulrennan, President, Rave-Worthy LLC The Optimist Gets Results: Faking the Cha-Cha with Two Left Feet

Transcription

1 YWCA Women s Leadership Conference 2014 Dr. Mia Mulrennan, President, Rave-Worthy LLC The Optimist Gets Results: Faking the Cha-Cha with Two Left Feet

2 The Optimist Gets Results: Faking the Cha-Cha with Two Left Feet Dr. Mia Mulrennan President, Rave-Worthy LLC CPI Professional Edge Executive Forum Thursday, January 9 th, 2014

3 American writer and poet Robert Brault ( describes an optimist.

4 Objectives What is optimism exactly? Examples of real-life, amazing optimism Gain insight into your individual level of optimism Debunking myths about optimism Obstacles to overcome Learn a formula for becoming more optimistic Outline/apply a real-life situation

5 First, some brain science. o Zen handouts you choose what to remember and take note of o Pictures and characters (we remember animals well) o Questions and application to begin to build a plan

6 What exactly is Optimism? The disposition of believing you have mastery over your life, that you control your own destiny. In psychology, it is described as having inherited an "easy" temperament and possessing a feeling of well-being most of the time.

7 Wait a minute. Did that previous slide say inherited? Yes, it did. Research says that an optimistic bias is something that is largely inherited. It is a genetically obtained disposition. If you were allowed one wish for your child, seriously consider wishing him or her optimism. - Daniel Kahneman

8 So, actually doing the Cha-Cha looks something like this:

9 Step 1: Ask Yourself: Who would I be most like in that video? Do I come from a family of optimists? Pessimists? Realists? Skeptics?

10 Real-Life Stories of Optimism "Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death."

11 Genes are not destiny. Research says optimism can be learned and more importantly, be practiced. In the end, it comes down to establishing habits and having the discipline to continually practice them. Earned optimism is about developing a habit of resilience, persistence, innovative problem solving, and resourcefulness. It s less about hope and more about focused action in pursuit of consistent results.

12 Step 2: Am I really motivated to be more optimistic? Let s debunk some common myths

13 Myth Optimists are low-iq Pollyannas. There are no differences in IQ. In fact, Optimism has little to do with IQ and more to do with how you use the IQ you have to be flexible and resourceful in overcoming the obstacles and leveraging opportunities.

14 Myth Optimists are soft they are people who do not know hardship and have had it easy in life. Optimists as a group have endured more. They take on more challenges due to higher risk tolerance. The difference: optimists believe that this track record of overcoming many obstacles sets the stage for continued success, that success breeds success.

15 Myth An optimistic attitude means maintaining a delusional, positive attitude of denial. Research shows that optimists are quicker to address negative information and bad news in order to take present action. They are quicker to give up on their approach and faster in looking for new alternatives.

16 Step 3: Obstacles to Overcome Did any of those myths speak to you? Which ones and why? How do you really feel about becoming more optimistic?

17 Hard Work: Earned Optimism is Earned The process to be able to map and then RESPOND is a lot of work and requires patience because it is not linear, but cyclical

18 Step 4: Learning the Process (1) Perceive (2) Assess (3) Solve (4) Reinforce 18

19 Step One: PERCEIVE Meet Percy 19

20 Step Two: ASSESS This is Sage 20

21 Step Three: SOLVE This is Remy 21

22 Step Four: REINFORCE And this is Tim e 22

23 The Process Perceive Assess Solve Reinforce 23

24 Step 5: Obstacle - Getting Stuck What stage of the process do you usually gravitate toward or get frozen into? (1) Perceive Keep on keepin on, gatherers who deal with it (2) Assess This is what is happening armchair quarterbacks Analyzing and re - analyzing (3) Solve Planners - This is what I will/should/could do (4) Reinforce Jump in and do anything right NOW 24

25 Skeptics, Realists and Pessimist, Oh My! (1) Pessimist perceive: Keep on keepin on, and deal with a life where there are no guarantees except for (2) Realists assess: Strive to be accurate armchair quarterbacks as a goal, saying don t be fooled, this is the way it really is. (3) Skeptics solve: And look at things from many angles in order to say: it could be improved and should be done this way. (4) Pessimist reinforce: Jump in and take action and tend to use information that reinforces persevering or taking the risk.

26 Step 6: Outline real-life examples. Question: o Where are you currently trying to foster more optimism? o Walk through the process

27 The Process Perceive Assess Solve Reinforce 27

28 Objectives What is optimism exactly? Examples of real-life optimism Gain insight into your individual level of optimism Myths and obstacles regarding optimism Learn a formula for becoming more optimistic Outline/apply a real-life situation

29 Thank you! Discussion and Further Application Questions? Reflections? Comments?