Balance Critical Skills

"Given the choice between seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses or always under a rain cloud, the contest isn't even close. In business and in life, the reasonable optimist will win every time." - Shaun Achor

In one study, 90 participants went through a software training program. They taught half the group to prevent errors from occurring while they guided the other half into mishaps. The second group, who were energized to make errors, exhibited greater feelings of self-efficacy. Since they learned to figure out their own way out of mistakes, they became faster and more accurate in how they later used software.

Critical skills require balance. This does not mean a focus on overcoming inner grumpiness. Positivity can become maladaptive if we overlook the realities and overestimate current abilities. 

Open the mind to ideas and opportunities. Let failures guide. Use pessimism to locate reality. Then see the glass as refillable.

Tim Collins author of Good to Great writes, "We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our setbacks, our history, our mistakes, or even staggering defeat along the way. We are freed by our choices."

"We can only learn to deal with failure by actually experiencing failure by living through it. The earlier we face difficulties and drawbacks, the better prepared we are to deal with the inevitable obstacles along the path." - Tai Ben-Shahar

'By scanning our mental map for positive opportunities, and by rejecting the belief that every down in life leads us only further downward, we give ourselves the greatest power possible: the ability to move up, not despite the setbacks but because of them," writes Shaun Achor.

Make friends with the F word - Failure. Acknowledging ways it assists future successes. 

We balance our problem solving skills by not avoiding mishaps but by searching into what went wrong. 

Discover and ask:  In what ways will I solve this by situation by investigating my errors.