Optimism helps students and professionals stay resilient while navigating obstacles
For many, especially in college, life can get stressful. For students, exams, deadlines, papers, and more can weigh on their shoulders, leading to anxiety and stress, and those stresses only grow after graduation when class deadlines become work deadlines and other obstacles hinder progress.
However, developing an optimistic mindset early can help mitigate stress brought on by deadlines, obstacles, and challenges in the future. The month of March is recognized as National Optimism Month in which many focus on the power of positive thinking and the way it impacts our lives.
Two UTA College of Business students pose for a photo. (Photo by Jalen Larry)
The UTA College of Business met with Dr. Anna-Lisa Leefers, a Clinical Associate Professor in the College of Business Department of Management to learn about beneficial ways to practice resiliency and gain an optimistic mindset to tackle future challenges.
“A lot of people assume that with optimism, you either have it or you don’t. But optimism and resiliency are skills that are incredibly necessary in pretty much all aspects of our lives. Especially in business, where employers are trying to push you to be creative, to do more with less, or to solve big problems. You have to take steps to build resiliency and find optimism. You need to develop the ability to bounce back from adversity and weather challenging circumstances,” said Leefers.
Leefers explained that optimism and resiliency are skills that anyone can learn and master. However, to become more optimistic and resilient in the face of adversity, one must practice these key skills.
“I firmly believe that you can develop optimism. You need to develop helpful optimism, and not toxic positivity. Toxic positivity can be fake and lend itself to the ‘good vibes only’ way of thinking, but you can’t live your whole life like that because there will be obstacles,” explained Leefers. “In order to develop true optimism as a skill, it helps to lean into the WOOP method of looking at challenges by analyzing your wish you want to achieve, the outcome you want, obstacles that may get in the way, and your plan for overcoming those obstacles. I think that has a lot of resonance with people in business, and I’ve seen it resonate with my students.”
The WOOP method, or Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan method is a goal planning organization technique that helps its participants lay out plans and anticipate obstacles when making goals for themselves.
“As an example, I’ve seen it with students who are feeling anxious about exams. They might get a bad grade and need advice for the next exam. As a professor, I’ll say to look back. Let’s figure out the outcome you want, then engage in some self-reflection and figure out if there’s something you could be setting up differently to be more successful for the next exam. Then we can identify some obstacles. After we look back and plan, we can reframe the obstacles to see what’s truly standing in their way. By planning ahead and reframing setbacks, we can set ourselves up to be more resilient in the future,” said Leefers.
While proper planning can help mitigate negative pressure on students or workers, preplanning can help them create realistic goals and prepare for challenges by giving them the resiliency to take on obstacles.
“Proper planning and reframing can lead to better resiliency in the future. If I get stuck at a wall and eventually overcome it, the next time I feel stuck I can remind myself that I’ve scaled that wall before,” said Leefers. “That simple act of reframing the situation can help me get through the moment.”
Dr. Anna-Lisa Leefers, Clinical Associate Professor in the College of Business Department of Management, poses for a professional photo. (Photo by Erika Nina Suárez)
Leefers also explained that along with proper planning, being grateful and excited for positive outcomes can lead to better optimism in the future, but just as before, these actions must be practiced.
“When you first begin to practice skills like purposeful resiliency and optimism, it can feel inauthentic and awkward. So for that reason, tell yourself “Even though this is uncomfortable, I want to challenge myself to see this in a different way and create a new habit,” explained Leefers. “Habits are skills that we’ve done over and over again and have become part of our natural repertoire. Once you develop these skills you can help others do the same. If you’re in a place of leadership, it becomes your responsibility to raise others up and give more kudos and positive affirmations than you receive.”
Leefers explained that it may be hard to begin developing these skills, but the positive outcomes that stem from being resilient and optimistic are easy to see.
“Sometimes you have to work hard to be optimistic, but when people see it, they see that it’s authentic. It resonates with them. I did an exercise with my students midway through the semester where I asked them how I could help them learn better. A lot of them said they loved how chipper I was and asked me to keep coming to class with a positive attitude because they needed that,” said Leefers. “As faculty, we look at this next generation and see their resilience. That’s why it’s so important to help them both cultivate these resilience and optimism skills and celebrate when we see them used.”
