“I think I can, I think I can…’. The key message from the popular children’s story – the Little Red Engine – is clear. The engine believed he could do it and he did, in spite of the fact that he had a heavy load to carry up a steep hill. He was able to push himself a little bit harder and achieve that little bit more with  strong determination. But what about all those whose engine capacity is too inadequate and the hill is simply too steep?

Strong belief is not good enough. Faced with impossible odds and compelling evidence, belief alone may not suffice if you don’t have the hardware to go with it. Failure only becomes a harsher reality. Research has shown that simply trying to emotionally charge yourself up to achieve a goal will not guarantee long term success.

What Leads to Success?

Ever wondered why kids have so much energy? When I watch my children learn tennis, I am continually amazed to see just how many times they can miss-hit balls and then recover instantly to continue to want to try again and again – as many times as once every 10 seconds – that’s 360 times in an hour! Tennis, golf and many other ball sports are not always won by simply having good shots, but often through having the ability to manage mistakes effectively. The champions are those who can recover quickly and keep going after failure.

Many people would say that failure is due to a lack of desire or talent. But desire and talent do not guarantee success. The missing ingredient can be optimism. Many individuals can become paralyzed by having a pessimistic outlook and consequently experiencing negative “self-talk”, which in turn can lead to feelings of helplessness.

Our Self Talk

Seligman believes that, “All of us have habitual ways of explaining good and bad events. It stems from how we see the world and our place in the world – whether we think we are valuable and deserving or worthless and hopeless.” Some people have ways of explaining events to themselves that give hope. Failure makes everyone feel, at least temporarily, helpless, but some people have the ability to bounce back from defeat while others lose all strength. Because of this ability to bounce back, these people can achieve more in their work, on the playing field, or even in their relationships.

Research has shown that health, high achievement, longevity and even political victory have been attributed to an optimistic mindset. In sales optimists outsell pessimists by up to 58%.

So what is an optimistic mindset? The optimist and the pessimist will both encounter problems in life, but the optimist is able to weather all circumstances better. This is not about the power of positive thinking – it’s about how we react to events – especially failure. Whenever an event occurs in our lives we immediately react by thinking about it. Our thoughts (self talk) rapidly become beliefs, and these beliefs can then turn into habitual behaviours and have consequences in other areas of our lives. Our beliefs can mean the difference between giving up and persevering to achieve.

Our Choice

Senge believes that the words we choose to use to describe an event direct our attention, our perceptions, and consequently our behaviour. Whenever we articulate what we see, our language interacts with our direct experience, and the reality we bring forth arises from this interaction. The alternative of seeing language as describing an independent reality is to recognize the power of language that allows us to freshly interpret our experience and might enable us to bring forth new realities.

The most important conversation we have every day is with ourselves. “Self talk” is responsible for our self image. Our self image is responsible for our self success, or – conversely – our self destruction..... Without a positive self image, individuals will simply 'plod along' ... teams can only 'do okay'. With a positive self image, a whole new world is possible. The “subliminal process” of self talk or learned optimism can be used as a powerful aid in learning, as a therapeutic tool in treating disorders, banishing fears and phobias and becoming a better individual. 
 

John Harvey
After recovering from terminal illness John went on to win 2 gold medals and set an Australian record at the age of 52.

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John Harvey
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Andrew Grant

DID YOU KNOW THAT

Sales optimists outsell pessimists by up to 58%. 

Failure makes everyone, at least temporarily, helpless, but some people have the ability to bounce back from defeat while others lose all strength.

Words we choose to use to describe an event direct our attention, our perceptions, and consequently our behavior.

The most important conversation we have every day is with ourselves.

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