How do you view the setbacks you face? The answer to this question says a lot about whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. We all go through different trials in life, some of us more than others. However, why do some people seem to recover from adversity and ready to try again, while others seem to give up after relatively few hardships?
For example, imagine you are looking for a job. You go to an interview and get rejected. How do you feel after that event? You can take it personally and see it as an ongoing problem and say to yourself, "Nobody would hire someone like me.I will never have a job. Or worse, you could let that one setback affect your view of all aspects of your life and keep saying to yourself, I am a total failure,am not useful to anyone. In any case, this thought is the essence of pessimism.
Fight pessimism
Learning to recognize these negative thoughts is an important first step. The next step is to fight them. Look for reasonable alternative explanations. For example, is it really true that you were turned down because no one can hire you? Or was the employer just looking for someone with different qualifications?
Use specific facts to point out the pessimistic thoughts you are exaggerating. Does rejection really mean that you have completely failed or can you think about other areas of your life - such as your family relationships or friendships - that you have succeeded in? Learn to dismiss your worst predictions as a mere "catastrophe". Can you really know that you will never find a job? There are more things you can do to stave off negative thoughts.
Positive thinking and goal orientation
Having hope involves the belief that you can achieve your goals. There is actually a lot more to expect, but this definition seems useful in several ways. By focusing on this aspect of personal hope, we can develop more positive and goal-oriented thinking.
If we want to believe we can achieve our future goals, we need to take a records of goal setting and achievement. If you think you don't have that track record, it can be helpful to think seriously about your goals. Do you have any,first of all? It is very easy to get carried away by the routine and hectic pace of life without thinking about what we really want from life and what is most important to us. We need to set clear priorities and ensure what is most important.
Once our priorities are established, it will be easier to choose some key goals in different areas, such as our family life and our secular life. However, it is important not to set too many goals in the beginning and to make each goal a goal that we know we cant easily achieve. If a goal is too difficult to achieve, it can be intimidating and we can give up. Therefore, it is generally best to divide the broader long-term goals into smaller short-term goals.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Once we have important goals in mind, we need the will - desire and determination - to strive to achieve them. We can strengthen this determination by reflecting on the value of our goals and the rewards we receive for achieving them. Obstacles will obviously arise, but we must see them as challenges and not as dead ends.In this way we will be able to strengthen our personal hope by fighting pessimism and developing positive and goal-oriented thinking!