Positive = naive? No way!
I always start from the good in people. A wonderful starting point, I can tell you, it makes you much happier. But still, for years, it gave me a bad feeling. There were only a few people around me who thought as I did. Everybody else seemed to look at the world and their problems very differently. Especially critical and focused on what was not going well. That made me feel naïve. Like I was burying my head in the sand for everything that wasn’t going well. This changed when I read the book Human Kind by Rutger Bregman. A world of recognition! It felt as if my book had finally been written.
Via Rutger Bregman I came across Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology. And from him, I learned that my starting point to assume the positive was not naive at all. Psychology often focuses on the 50% that is not going well. Positive Psychology is about the 50% that is going well without ignoring the things that are not going well. Asking questions like: “What is going well today? And how can I apply what is going well to the things that are not going so well?” When I heard that, I thought, this is what I want to learn! I want to apply this in my coaching sessions because, with this, I can really help people further. With great pleasure, I learned positive psychology coaching and got my degree.
I have not changed my behaviour, but how I label my behaviour. If I am the only happy one in the group, I no longer feel naïve. On the contrary, I feel realistic and confident in my positive thinking. Because I teach people to look positively at their future, encourage them to follow their own path and achieve their goals. What you focus on, grows! So, you may focus with confidence and positivity on what makes you happy.
Has this made you curious about how you can become confident & positive and what effect it will have on your career?
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