Learned optimism is a concept from positive psychology’s founder, Martin Seligman, which argues we can cultivate a positive perspective. With a more joyful outlook on life, he explains, we’re in a much better position to enhance our wellbeing.

Using learned optimism, we can change our attitude and behaviours by recognising and challenging our negative thoughts and self-talk. Optimism is not a fixed trait - it is a skill. It’s all about how we choose to see things.

For example, when Quantum Orange’s Founder Paul was engaged by the ACT Government to counsel survivors from the Canberra bushfires, he found some people were so shattered by the losses they sustained they found it difficult to perceive the future could bring anything positive, while others experienced the same emotional turmoil and then chose to find a positive opportunity (like taking a career in a new direction) to focus on. Clearly, in this instance, some people were more optimistic than others, even though they had all been through very similar circumstances.

Optimism is essentially a mindset - the way we shape our thoughts and choose to attend to them impacts how positively we can meet any difficulties that come our way.
Think of a negative incident that recently happened to you and reflect on the following questions:

• Was the incident the result of your inability or external factors?
• Did the incident make you feel like more negative things will happen to you or did it feel like a one time occurrence?
• Did you think more bad things are coming to you in other areas of your life?
• Did you view the circumstance as a temporary setback?

Your answers will make it clear to you whether you tend to have a negative or positive outlook. Embracing optimism doesn’t make you immune to stress or worry, but it does teach you to see what’s going wrong and remain hopeful something positive is still to come.