“I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.”

Optimism is a combination of a few things:

1) Learning what's possible and working towards it ... goals play an important role in this process moving the client towards their ultimate vision in all the areas of their life/business.  If the future looks bright, their attitude will reflect this.

2) Reality check which points out what can be improved and focus on it as things that can be improved versus things that are wrong or aren't working.  As coaches, even though we can usher in some quick wins, we're really all about Kaizen or incremental improvement over the long-term; the compounding that occurs is astounding!  Just watching those little changes make a positive impact improves attitude too.

3) Getting the self-talk in check - There are a couple of ways to go after this:  a) as a coach, I look for the outward signals of fear, doubt and uncertainty - what the client believes translates into thoughts which translate into actions and ultimately into results; I look at the current results and try to work my way back with the client to get to the root beliefs causing them -- a key question is "why do you believe this?", and b) listening - if the self-talk is negative, much of the speech coming from the client will also tend to be negative; I use this as cues to get to the negative self-talk and then try to tie back to the underlying thoughts and beliefs.  Either way, once we get to the root, we work together on strategies to turn around the self-talk to be positive.  Writing down some affirmations to set the positive tone is a good step to move in the right direction.  Some good affirmations:  "I deserve to be successful!", "I'm a good person.", "I deserve the respect of others", etc.  It's amazing what reading these a few times a day will do to change the attitude of the client and can either get them out of their own way or can cause others to see them in a new light.

4) Finally, another cause is quite literally the people surrounding the client or owner.  We've talked before about Victor/Victim so I won't go into it, but suffice to say, we need to ensure the client is surrounding themselves with Victors and either helps develop the victims into victors too or finds a way to eliminate them or significantly curtail them from the picture.  This sounds harsh, but a victim needs to understand their impact on others (i.e., that they are a victim and sap the energy and enthusiasm from those around them) and then be willing to change or else they are a permanent drain on anyone staying in contact with them.

Chris Allen, The Business Spotlight, Inc.  "Lighting the Way to Your Success"

Cincinnati, Ohio

www.TheBusinessSpotlightInc.com

513-272-6224    513-27COACH

www.linkedin.com/ln/christophershawnallen

I like the Churchill quote, it reminds me of something my former boss and mentor Zig Ziglar always says: “Positive thinking won't help you do anything but it will help you go everything better than negative thinking will!"

I think the same is true of optimism just by looking at the glass being half full it changes your whole perspective and offers you a better outlook.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favorable or hopeful view."

Optimism is created in our lives by:

1. Have clearly defined goals
2. A vision of what my life will be like once the goal or goals are achieved
3. An action plan you can follow daily

Finally to be a true optimist develops an Attitude of Gratitude. Give thanks for what you have and who you are.

Being thankful and working on a clear plan of action will create optimism!

Carlos Rosales is a Certified Business Coach with FocalPoint Coaching in Houston, TX

www.fpcgh.com