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Difficult as it may be for each of us to see our reflection and ask a hardball question, try this one. On a scale of 1 to 10, if asked to plot your level of "positive thinking," where might that be? For decades most of us have believed IQ is our destiny; it must be important to be smart. Then, a funny thing happened on the way to the MENSA banquet. In the nineties, renowned researcher Daniel Goleman began uncovering a clear and documented "second IQ" he labeled "Emotional IQ" and wrote of it in his treatise Emotional Intelligence.
Among other discoveries within cohort groups Goleman describes an assortment of incoming college freshmen asked the following hypothetical question: "Although you set your goal on getting a B, your first exam score counting for 33% of your grade is returned as a D. It is one week later following that disappointing grade. What do you do now?" As it turned out, hope made all the difference. Those students who expressed high levels of hope proposed using aggressive methods that would bolster their final grade. Those students with only moderate "deserve" levels thought of a few ways they might influence their grade, and those with low levels of hope gave up, demoralized.
But this was only an appetizer for empirical proof to follow. When the Kansas University psychologist who did the study cross-tabbed actual academic achievement with the incoming freshmen with whom he conducted the original study, he documented a dramatic and irrefutable pattern: hope was a far better predictor than SAT or ACT. Those with higher "deserve" levels actually tracked as stronger academics, assuming a typical range of skills.
Around the same time, Martin Seligman at Penn was working with Olympic swimmer Matt Biondi. Sports scribes were touting Biondi to match or eclipse Mark Spitz's unprecedented success. But in his first event Biondi finished a heartbreaking third in the 200 meter then was inched-out in the 100 meter butterfly. Those same sports aficionados predicted these losses would diminish Biondi's entire Olympic effort. But Biondi had other ideas, winning Gold in his next 5 events. This came as no surprise to Dr. Seligman who remembered experimenting with Biondi, testing him for "optimism" the year before. In that experiment during his Olympic tune-up, Biondi's coach deliberately told the swimmer he had recorded a time worse than actually clocked. Despite the down feedback, Biondi rested briefly then tried again, scoring even better. Other team members engaged in the same exercise when told about their "disappointing times" tried again, and fared worse.
What is to be learned? Optimism and hope mean having a powerful built-in expectation that we will always prevail. This is a major component of Emotional Intelligence; clear evidence that positivity is the attitude part of emotional IQ that buffers us against apathy or surrendering to temporary failure.
Optimism isn't simply a state of mind, but a mental weapon that defines how we approach everyday events. Failure instead of a conclusive outcome can become a condition that can be reversed. From academic success to managing a group of people, a high optimism index will have a profound impact on our ability to deal with frustration and the mastery over events in our life. In some it's inborn, with others it's learned. What's your optimism score?
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