Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Karen Arnold, a researcher at Boston College

I don’t know about you, but my high school guidance counselor never told me that hallucinations, mailbox assaults, and generalized insanity were vital to being a world-renowned success at anything. I was told to do my homework, play by the rules, and be nice.

Research shows that the most motivating thing is progress in meaningful work.

This “justifiable optimism” makes difficult things fun. Games are often harder than real life, but they are fun

Change the story and you change your behavior.

Takers trade short-term gains for long-term losses

reciprocity one of the key elements of being influential and winning favor with others but it’s also essential that you go first

instead of behavior following our beliefs, often our beliefs come from our behaviors

Optimists are luckier. Studies show by thinking positive they persevere and end up creating more opportunities for themselves.

Seligman found that when you shift your explanatory style from pessimistic to optimistic it makes you feel better and you become grittier.