A positive attitude can take you a long way toward being successful at the things you want to do and creating the life you hope to live. However, some people do tend to be more positive-minded than others. Do you consider yourself a glass-half-full type of person? Find out just how much of an optimist you are… take the quiz.
1. Today is the day that you’ve got a big backyard barbecue planned. You’ve dropped some cash on food, outdoor games and various other sundries. Unfortunately, you wake up to a gray, dreary sky and steady rain falling. You…
A. Can’t help thinking that if this was someone else’s barbecue, the weather would have held out. How come everything you try to do ends up getting ruined somehow? With a mood to match the gloomy weather, you decide to call off the shin-dig.
B. You aren’t going to let a little bit of rain ruin your fun. This is a great
excuse to move the party indoors and make use of the finished basement rec room that you finally put the finishing touches on a few months ago.
2. You recently landed what you thought was going to be a great, long term business client. After a few weeks of doing steady work for her, she’s suddenly cut back on the amount of hours she’s booked from you. Your reaction is to…
A. Feel frustrated and defeated. She probably won’t be a client for much longer. Is it something about the way that you work? Is it possible that your client’s found someone better to provide the kind of service you offer? Now you’re wondering if maybe you’re in the wrong business.
B. Start to worry a bit, but then realise that you won’t know the real reason why she’s reduced the amount of billable hours unless you ask. Remembering all of the many other clients that you’ve managed to make happy over the years, you feel confident in your ability to deliver quality work. You figure it must be something else, like budget, time constraints, or something in your client’s situation that’s beyond your control. So you wait until the right moment, then you politely ask about it.
3. Your daughter arrives home from school in tears because everyone else in class was talking about a birthday party that she evidently wasn’t invited to. Your first instinct is to…
A. Become emotional on her behalf. How dare those other children not include her. Now you’re wondering if she’s being excluded on other things at school as well. Is it time to make a call to the teacher?
B. Figure there must be some kind of misunderstanding. Did the invitation end up on the floor of the school bus? Did she check the bottom of her back pack? One way to find out if your daughter was truly left out of if this was some sort of unintentional mishap is to just call the mom of the child whose party it is, and ask her as nicely as possible.
4. You’ve been exercising and sticking to your diet religiously for a full month. Today at your weekly weigh-in you discover that you’re up 1.5kg’s from a week ago. You…
A. Start thinking the worst about yourself. Why even bother with all of this work? You’re clearly going to be overweight and out of shape forever. Maybe a trip to McDonald’s will cure this feeling of defeat.
B. Wonder what could have caused the increase in weight. Did you eat something extra salty today? It’s possible that you’re retaining water. Tomorrow you’ll make an extra effort to find healthy, low-fat choices that are also low in salt. This is no big deal… weight fluctuations happen all the time.
5. A long-time friend calls you up to ask a favour. She knows that you design websites and can whip one up for her in no time. She also has very little in the budget to spare. Your first thought is…
A. Great, yet another person trying to scam free services from me. I’ll probably spend the entire week slaving away on this project for her, and for what?
B. Well, this will take some time and I won’t make a lot of money doing the project. However, this particular friend has been very kind to me, and she has done many a favour when I’ve asked. So I feel good about putting in the time, energy and expertise to help her out. Plus… maybe I’ll end up learning something new as a result of doing this project!
……
Tally Your Score:
Mostly A’s: Negative Nancy. Ooof… you’re not exactly what someone would call an optimist, are you? Is it possible that you need a few lessons in looking on the bright side, having faith in yourself and others, and offering benefit of the doubt? Ditching the dark thoughts could open up new possibilities for you and pave the way toward helping you become a better problem solver who can navigate the sometimes-bumpy road of life with grace and ease.
Mostly B’s: Pretty positive! When problems arise that need fixing and situations come up that force you to make on-the-spot decisions, you’re able to summon the power of positive thinking to get you through the difficult times. You’re probably the one that others come to when they need encouragement or to discover a way to move past obstacles in life. Congrats on keeping the sunny side up!
