it really is an honor to achieve 1 million subscribers and it's a part of
me to give back to the community so this video is gonna be a review of one of my
favorite books ever learned optimism but it's going to be reviewed by the YouTube
channel everyday life skills I think it's a great review and if you enjoy the
video go ahead and check out everyday life skills videos hope you guys enjoy
this and learn something hello everyone everyday life skills here in this video
I'm going to be animating for you one of my favorite self-help books learned
optimism by Martin Seligman but first I wanted to thank practical psychology for
having me here it really is an honor to present to you guys without further ado
here we go in an experiment they took two dogs and put them in two different
cages one being a cage with an electric shock that goes off when the dog tries
to escape and the other being a normal lock when the dog with the normal lock
tries to escape he's successful when the other dog with the electric shock tries
to escape he gets shocked after a few unsuccessful shocked attempts he just
sat back in the corner and gave up they then took these two same dogs and put
them in the same cage with no shock the dog in the previous cage with no shock
got up and escaped the cage with no hesitation
however the dog that was in the previous cage with the shock because in the first
situation he wasn't able to leave the cage without getting shocked he simply
doesn't even try to get out even though he can if he wanted to and this is what
is called learned helplessness you probably know someone or is that someone
who acts like this helpless dog pissing away the prime years of their lives due
to their pessimist thinking people who are pessimists believe that bad events
are their fault and that it will last a long time undermining everything else
they feel helpless and may sink into depression now the exact opposite of
this is learned optimism optimism is a hopeful outlook for the future if you
think your tomorrow will be better than today then you're being optimistic that
better things are to come and this is what Seligman explains in his book he
explains that the reason a lot of people lack an optimistic mindset is because
the brains default mechanism is to think like that of a pessimist the good thing
about all of this is that the brain is like any other muscle in your
body with enough persistence and conditioning it will grow to be stronger
than what it was yesterday so to sum it all up Martin Seligman says that it all
boils down to persistence persistence is staying consistent and continuing on
when you're able to remain more optimistic you're able to stick with the
process and stay on the path that you're trying to achieve and overcome many
obstacles on the way then a pessimist person would when you simply see more
opportunities let's say you know business or a goal you're trying to
achieve you try more things because more
opportunities present themselves so when that happens do you think that makes you
more successful or less successful of course it makes you more successful
there's no way you can be unsuccessful if you're super super persistent and if
you're very hopeful if you are willing to try everything you can to achieve
that goal or make whatever it is work yet still remain hopeful and still
remain cheerful and confident so you can see how important it is to have optimism
as a personal trait like I'm sure you can see all the places in your life
where if you kept on pushing you could have done so much more or achieved your
goal how many times have you fell off that diet how many times have you
procrastinated in school or on a project you're passionate about how many times
have you been a victim of your own thoughts and believe that you can't
achieve anything bigger than a 95 corporate job Martin tells us that again
the good thing about all this is that it is something that can be cultivated just
like everything in life it is a skill you must acquire and learn in order to
perform it right and once you start executing on your plants and you start
seeing result Martin tells us that you then enter a state refer to as flow but
till then you have to really build up your optimism to get to that level
Martin Seligman gives us this take away from the book that optimism is explained
and that the main difference is the explanatory style the explanatory style
is the way that you explain and the way you attach meaning to the stuff that are
happening in your life so literally both a pessimistic and an optimistic person
can be faced with the same exact challenge but the question is what kind
of explanation are you assigning to this situation
so let's try to understand the explanatory styles by using the example
of getting a flat tire on your way to work so you can better visualize this
and compare it to the way you think about the outcomes in your life Martin
tells us that these three explanatory styles is ultimately what leads to
thinking like that of an optimist or that of a pessimist explanatory style
number one temporary versus permanent this asked the question how permanent is
the problem so let's say you're on your way to work and you get a flat tire an
optimistic person would say you know it's just a flat tire this is not even a
big problem and the grand scheme of my life it means nothing I will fix it in a
few hours in tomorrow it won't be an issue at all now a pessimistic person
would say oh my god I got a flat tire how did this happen and oh my god how
long is it gonna take to fix and in his mind he built it up as if it affects his
whole entire life as if it is permanent and he has no way out and when you think
a problem is permanent you simply block all the resources of changing it you're
basically powerless and a victim because there is nothing that you're looking
forward to so it only makes sense that the optimistic person who can limit the
problem and contain it to a small degree will be much better and much more
resourceful in such situation the second explanatory style is pervasiveness which
pretty much concerns how Y spreads something is how much of my life is
affected by this problem this ask the question will this underline everything
how pervasive is this and how much does it affect my life so let's say an
optimistic person would say you know it's just a flat tire
all it affects is now and today I mean yes I'll be late for work and I might
miss that 8 a.m. meeting but it's ok it just worked I can make it up it's not
like my life and health and relationship is in jeopardy now a pessimistic person
on the other hand allows their negative thoughts to spread like freaking cancer
and now what was a local problem which was this flat tire becomes a global
problem and it had affects his whole entire life he tells himself now this
flat tire means that I'll be late for work which means that my manager might
fire me or yell at me and that's gonna make me
very very angry which then will cause me to go home upset and argue with my wife
for being late and now my whole life is corrupt all of this over a flat tire
these negative thoughts spread in their mind literally like cancer the third and
final style is personalization which pretty much asks how personal is this
problem so for an optimistic person whenever there is a problem like a flat
tire he would tell himself you know I'm not responsible for this problem and
when something good happens to him he takes credit for it
for example they would say okay I got a flat tire you know it was just bad luck
I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and drove over a nil
it's not my fault and when something good happens like a promotion at work
they say yup that's me I worked hard for this all year straight I earned this I
stayed focused I beat sale records I got the promotion
through hard work and dedication this was all me now a pessimistic person
would say getting it why wasn't i more careful this always happens to me and in
his mind he blames himself and the exact opposite of that when something positive
happens a pessimistic person tends to be humble and doesn't take credit like if
they got that same promotion they would say oh you know the company just needed
somebody and I just happened to be in the right place I mean anybody could
have done it it wasn't me that attracted that promotion it was the company
anybody could have got it I just happened to be the one so this is
basically the deciding factor between an optimistic and pessimistic thinker just
imagine how much this affects your willingness to go out and take action in
the real world when you think you're responsible for good and not bad things
then you're able to act and feel hopeful and if you're thinking the opposite and
not hopeful you're basically guilting and limiting yourself for no reason we
want you to go ahead and write down five things that you're hopeful about in the
next day the next week or even the next month or a year it can be anything maybe
that one vacation you've always wanted to take or maybe a relationship you're
looking for or maybe that promotion that you're trying to get at work maybe you
want to have all your credit cards eliminated or achieve a certain weight
goal or graduate college whatever it is be specific and full
what really motivates you and I want you to notice how you feel now I want you to
notice how you feel before doing the exercise and I want you to notice how
you feel when you're finished if you're like most people you will feel very very
hopeful and motivated to go out there and execute on your plans you feel
optimistic fully charged and happy to be alive the reason for this is because now
your life and goals are right in front of your eyes you've articulated it in a
clear way and now it's right in front of you
you're able to see where you're at and where you can be and that ultimately
gets you back connected with what you're supposed to be doing and if you're a
super super pessimistic thinker because of the conditioning over the years don't
worry optimism is something that can be
learned optimism is like a dying fire and your awareness of it is the lighter
fluid with enough awareness that dying fire can burst into a huge flame if you
enjoyed this video go ahead and smash that subscribe button and head on over
to my channel I honestly would really love to have you guys there as I will be
uploading two videos very similar to this every week and again I want to
thank practical psychology and I want to thank you guys for taking the time to
view this video till next time peace