Assessing Yourself
Before you can change your thinking patterns, you have to know what they are! If you haven't already taken The Optimism Quiz, I strongly recommend that you do, as it can not only assess your thinking style (optimist or pessimist?), but it gives you an analysis of your answers so you can better understand what lies behind your thinking patterns. For additional understanding of those patterns, notice how you respond to and explain positive and negative events over the next few days (or recall how you have in the past), and ask yourself the following:

Do I take credit for positive events, or chalk them up to chance?_______________________________________________________________________

Do I expect more good things to follow, or do I view positive happenings as a fluke?________________________________________________________________________

What about negative events? Do I blame myself, or look at extenuating circumstances?________________________________________________________________________

Do I look at one negative event as evidence of more to come (like an omen)?________________________________________________________________________

Do I tend to encourage myself mentally, or do I berate myself inside?________________________________________________________________________

Would I talk to a friend or a precious child the way I talk to myself?________________________________________________________________________

Do I tend to 'catastrophize', or see and expect the worst?_____________________________________________________________________

Once you become aware of areas where your thinking patterns could use some 'sprucing up', now's the time to make changes. Below, I'd like you to list some typical negative thoughts you may have, and create a positive thought that you would like to replace it with. For example, "I just can't do my job well enough", could be changed to "I do my best, and my best is good enough", or even "I am fantastic at what I do!" Then repeat these positive thoughts in your head several times any time you catch yourself in negative thought patterns.

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Keep this worksheet handy, and make modifications as necessary. Good luck!