EXERCISE 15.3
Optimism
See a Positive Resolution
Purpose
To learn how vividly imagining a problem as well-resolved generates the positive energy to help us move more rapidly toward an effective resolution.
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50 minutes
Discussion of how our beliefs affect our optimism and why it’s valuable, and then some reflective time to allow new associations to surface. Next a discussion of an issue in each person’s life that doesn’t have a readily apparent answer and pairs work to imagine the details of a positive result.
Outcomes
- Expand awareness of the consequences of thinking pessimistically, as contrasted with thinking positively
- Make a commitment to guide thinking for more positive results
Audience
- Intact team
- Unaffiliated group
- Individual working with a coach
Facilitator Competencies 
Easy to Moderate
Materials
- None needed
Time Matrix
| Activity | Estimated Time |
| Discuss connection between optimism, values, and beliefs | 10 minutes |
| In pairs, or with coach, discuss value of optimism | 10 minutes |
| Take some quiet, reflective time to allow new associations to develop | 5 minutes |
| In pairs, discuss an issue in each person’s life that doesn’t have an answer and then imagine a positive result | 5 minutes |
| Learn the details of the resolution | 10 minutes |
| Discuss learnings and set commitments for practicing optimism | 10 minutes |
| Total | 50 minutes |
Instructions
1. Discuss the relationship between optimism and the belief in positive outcomes. What we believe will happen has a powerful effect on the outcomes we experience. One example of this result is that optimistic salespeople are the most effective at their jobs. New salesmen at MetLife who scored high on a test of “learned optimism” sold 37 percent more life insurance in their first two years than did pessimists (Seligman, 1990); also cited by the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at www.eiconsortium.org/reports/business_case_for_ei.html.
2. Ask the individual you are coaching or the team members to discuss their perceptions of the value of optimism in their lives with partners. Then discuss the topic as a group. Ask how much value optimism contributes to their lives.
3. Ask people to share what they do when they find themselves in a pessimistic state. How soon do they notice? Does it creep up on them so they don’t even notice when they are feeling fairly depressed and discouraged?
4. One way to counter the pessimism is to change thoughts such as: “I am overwhelmed and don’t think this can work out well” to “I know there’s a good result to this concern; I just don’t understand what it is yet.”
5. Have participants choose partners to work with and announce that the first step in the following learning process is to remain silent for four minutes. Acknowledge that it may seem like a long time, but that you will watch the clock carefully and tell them as soon as the time’s up. Ask them to sit comfortably, breathe deeply, and let their minds rest. When thoughts come up, they will just let them go and redirect their attention to the sound of their breathing or the sensations they feel in their bodies.
6. At the end of the time, ask them to bring their attention back into focus in the room and to turn to their partners. One person will go first and tell the other about a situation that he or she believes won’t work out well and over which he or she feels a lack of power. (Note: Guide the level of difficulty of the issue you raise based on your familiarity and expertise in expanding emotional intelligence skills and the nature and skills of your group or the individual with whom you are working. You can keep this simple by instructing participants to think of a meaningful but moderate challenge. This skill can be expanded as they take on new issues, having mastered the process at less challenging levels.)
- Now that the first person has described the situation, the other should be instructed to say: “I understand that you don’t know the answer yet, but let’s work together to imagine that somehow a miracle happened, and the issue is now completely resolved. Notice everything that is different. What do you feel, what do you see, what do you hear? What else do you know now that this change has occurred?”
- The person in the listening role works with the other for four or five minutes to develop as detailed a positive resolution as possible.
- Tell them to reflect with their partners about the difference between feeling like they don’t have the answer yet, but recognizing that it will appear at some time, and just feeling powerless because they don’t know the answer.
- Ask the pairs to switch roles and repeat the process.
7. Reconvene the entire group and discuss the activity. Ask participants to commit to practicing optimism by remembering this day and this group and this process when a new problem arises, and to remind themselves in such situations: “I just don’t know the answer YET.” Questions you might ask in debriefing include:
- What do you feel in your body when you are feeling pessimistic as compared to when you are feeling optimistic?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is optimism to you?
- How might you influence others to be more optimistic?