“Life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it.” “The greatest mistake we can make is living in fear that we will make one.” “Once our minds are 'tattooed' with negative thinking, our chances for long-term success diminish.” “We choose what attitudes we have right now. And it's a continuing choice.”

Failure devastates us. All of us, upon experiencing failure, quit -- at least temporarily. Optimists bounce back and began trying again almost immediately; defeat is temporary and achievement is assured. Pessimists, on the other hand, are defined by their failures. They are a failure, and there is no point in a failure continuing to try.

Sow a thought - reap an action. Sow an action - reap a habit. Sow a habit - reap a character. Sow a character - reap your destiny.

The Fiction of Failure

2 concepts: 1)Explanatory style 2)Attitudes to failure / mistakes

ZOLT

IEOF

MAPE

Explanatory Style Permanence Pervasiveness Personalization

Permanence People who give up easily believe the causes of bad events are permanent. Permanent (Pessimistic) Temporary (Optimistic) “I’m useless at Maths.”“That was a hard Maths test.” “I can never remember a thing in exams.”“I didn’t prepare well.” “The boss is a mongrel.”“The boss is in a bad mood.”

Permanence Optimists explain good events in terms of permanent causes. Permanent (Optimistic) Temporary (Pessimistic) “I’m talented in Music.”“I tried hard today” “I’m always lucky.”“It’s my lucky day.”

Pervasiveness People who make universal explanations for their failures give up on everything when a failure strikes in one area. Universal (Pessimistic) Specific (Optimistic) “All teachers are unfair.”“Mr Skov is unfair.” “I’m a useless idiot.”“I’m useless at drawing.”

Pervasiveness The optimist believes that bad events have specific causes, while good events enhance everything. The pessimist believes that bad events have universal causes and good events are caused by specific factors. Universal (Optimistic) Specific (Pessimistic) “I’m smart.”“I’m smart at Science.” “I get on well with everyone.”“Peter likes me.”

Personalisation People who blame themselves when they fail tend to have low self-esteem. Internal (Low self-esteem) External (high self-esteem) “I’m stupid.”“I had a lousy teacher.” “I have no talent.”“I was unlucky.”

Personalisation People who believe they cause good things tend to like themselves better than people who believe good things come from other people or circumstances. Internal (High self-esteem) External (Low self-esteem) “My skill helped us win.”“Our team played really well.” “I am a good debater.”“Their team was weak.”

Personal Responsibility Explanatory style is NOT a justification for avoiding personal responsibility. People must accept responsibility in order to change/improve. However, internality is not as crucial as the permanence dimension. If you believe the cause of your mess is permanent-stupidity, lack of talent, ugliness-you will not act to change it.

Success is moving from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. The arrow that hits the bullseye is the result of a hundred misses.

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Michael Jordan Professional Basketball Player

Ray Charles

Dr Samuel Pierpont Langley

The Wright Brothers

Dr Samuel Pierpont Langley

Thomas Edison

Green

Blue

Orange

Grey

What relevance does this have for education/parents/teach ers?

In college, students with optimistic explanatory styles will outperform predictive measures such as SAT scores or high school grades. Students with pessimistic scores will under perform. Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism Optimists have less illness, and recover more quickly than pessimists. Depression lowers the functioning of the immune system.

International Baccalaureate Learner Profile Risk Takers Inquirers Reflective Thinkers Perseverance

Inquirers They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives. Thinkers They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions. Reflective They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development. Risk Takers They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.

M essages that give us feedback about life. I nterruptions that should cause us to reflect and think. S ignposts that direct us to the right path. T ests that push us toward greater maturity. A wakenings that keep us in the game mentally. K eys that we can use to unlock the next door of opportunity. E xplorations that let us journey where we've never been before. S tatements about our development and progress.

Steps to Failing Forward 1. Realize there is one major difference between average people and achieving people 2. Learn a new definition of failure. 3. Remove the "you" from failure. 4. Take action and reduce your fear. 5. Change your response to failure by accepting responsibility. 6. Don't let the failure from outside get inside you. 7. Say good-bye to yesterday. 8. Change yourself, and your world changes. 9. Get over yourself and start giving yourself 10. Find the benefit in every bad experience. 11. If at first you do succeed, try something harder. 12. Learn from a bad experience and make it a good experience. 13. Work on the weakness that weakens you. 14. Understand there's not much difference between failure and success 15. Get up, get over it, get going.

The ABC’s of Changing from Pessimism to Optimism Adversity: Belief: Consequences: Disputation: Energization:

Create an environment where it is safe to make mistakes by building trust

Optimism Test (adapted from Dr. Martin Seligman's book, "Learned Optimism")

Hopefulness Whether or not we have hope depends on the two dimensions of permanence and pervasiveness taken together. Finding permanent and universal causes of good events along with temporary and specific causes for misfortune is the art of hope. Finding permanent and universal causes for misfortune and temporary and specific causes of good events is the practice of despair.