How to think about confidence as a balance of naive optimism
It is always very helpful to go through life and your goals with a positive mindset. After all, I am a Happiness consultant and Changemaker, and I advocate for intentional and joyful living. However, this is life, and with life comes a series of challenges we cannot ignore. We have to work and go through them to find the skills and strengths we can arm ourselves with and go to the other side much stronger and happier.
One thing that I always advise my clients to work on is their mindset around pragmatic optimism and how it will help them achieve their aspirations for the future.
What is pragmatic optimism?
Pragmatic optimism is about having a vision for the future as well as embracing your current reality & the potential obstacles
When you have pragmatic optimism ingrained in your mindset, instead of expecting your journey to be smooth-sailing, you can establish that there will be things that can trip up your path, and you can prepare for those.
By reflecting and identifying what are your default potential ‘stop signs’, ‘the alarm bells’ that will go off and the ‘panic buttons’ you push when you venture into the unknown and try something new.
For example, maybe you have made a new decision, taken on some further trainings, or moved into a new career, there is that immediate feeling of doubt that creeps up on you.
You begin questioning yourself if you made the right decision, if you are the right person for the job, or if you can deliver what people expect of you.
Can you relate?
The best way to prepare when this situation starts to bubble up is to set yourself some implementation intentions.
How to set implementation intentions
It’s a rather sciency term for actions you can take to make sure your best intentions don’t fall astray.
When you find yourself wanting to push the panic button and retreat, take out a piece of paper and do the following:
If X happens, then I do Y.
For example:
If I feel an overwhelming desire to shirk away and hide in my bubble, I am going to take a moment to tap in with my accountability partner.
If doubt creeps up, I am going to take a moment and visualise myself being filled with confidence and belief in myself.
When you start to realise the stop signs or the panic buttons that you encounter each time you pivot and step into a new direction, you'll begin to create a roadmap for you that isn't just blind naive optimism. Facing the reality that you have big dreams and being aware that you will face difficulties is the way to strengthen your pragmatic optimism.
Whilst positive psychology is all about understanding positive emotions, we have a full spectrum of emotions (anger, fear, doubt, etc.) and being prepared for when those moments hit will help you a long way. This is life and no matter how you're into joyful living, those moments will come.
The constant journey of learning ourselves is to be aware of and learn how to overcome your stop signs; the dark thoughts that come into your head; the panic buttons that come up, and when you're immediately going to the worst-case scenario where you want to call it a day and self-combust.
When you can navigate an understanding of each of these three zones you're preparing yourself for success. This is a practice I personally do and teach clients. I want to make sure they can make profound changes without stumbling and can also support their teams to do this too.
If you're interested in finding out more about these techniques around confidence and really stepping into owning your worth and your value, and having the right level of optimism, come and hang out with me for this March’s LinkedIn Live masterclass CONFIDENCE - CREATING UNBREAKA