kind of things you say will give you clues about whether you are
naturally optimistic or pessimistic with regard to the permanence of
events in your life:Optimistic Pessimistic
“I’m tired at the moment.After a good “I’ll never be able to do this”
night’s sleep I’ll easily be able to do this”
“My boss is fine unless he’s in a bad mood” “My boss always gives me a hard time”
“I know that I’m a talented person” “I put a lot of effort into doing things”
“I can see I didn’t do so well on this “You’re always telling me I’m not good
occasion, but I’ll get it right next time” enough”Pervasivenessrefers to whether you can treat misfortunes as separate
phenomena or as failures that will pervade all of your life. The kind
of things you say will give you clues about whether you are natu-
rally optimistic or pessimistic with regard to the pervasiveness of
events in your life:Optimistic Pessimistic
“Jim is the kind of salesman who never “All sales reps are dishonest”
seems to be honest and open”
“I didn’t do so well on this occasion, but “I am useless”
there’s no reason I can’t learn from that”
“I’m good at dealing with people” “I managed to help Bill today”
“The photocopier’s broken down: I’ll go “Technology and me just don’t get along”
down the corridor and try another one”Personalizationis about whether you feel in control of your life or
whether you naturally assume that things happen to you. The kind
of things you say will give you clues about whether you are natu-
rally optimistic or pessimistic with regard to the personalization of
events in your life:Optimistic Pessimistic
“I pulled it off” “We managed to do it thanks to their help”
“I can take control of this situation and do “I am no good at this kind of thing”
something really good”
“John must have something on his mind” “All men are useless”
“What shall we do today?” “I know this is not going to work”Getting Ready to Learn 47