Staying Positive in a Negative Economy

The world’s financial markets have posed a challenge to positive thinkers in recent days, weeks, months, and years. It is really difficult to be upbeat at a time when you are worrying about such things as whether your life savings or even your job will be there tomorrow. “What can go right?” is not, however, a question to be asked only during easy times. In fact, one of the benefits of positive thinking is that it allows you to have an alternative to rumination when times are tough.

At times like this, a good strategy is to look both to the past and to the future. A look to the past can help keep things in perspective. It can help remind us that no economic downturn has ever lasted forever. It can also remind us of our past accomplishments and strengths to handle difficult situations. A look to the future can help us reset goals in a difficult economy so that we can make ourselves more valuable to our employers and co-workers and make financial decisions and adjustments to weather this economic storm. It is important to recognize that many large and small fortunes got their start because of decisions made during difficult economic times.

Two helpful skills to develop at this time are the ability to tolerate ambiguity and the ability to stay active in taking charge of your life rather than passively allowing the course of events to do so. Think about what can go right, and then implement strategies to make it happen.

WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen, is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.
Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

Thinking is Good! Over-thinking is bad!

The human brain is a wonderful thing. It permits us to acquire and store knowledge, learn from experience, achieve creative and novel solutions to problems, and guide behavior changes.

The brain is particularly active in decision-making. When faced with a new decision, the obvious first step is to think about it. It is important to review our past experiences that can contribute to making an effective decision, and consider the consequences of making a right or wrong decision. Depending upon how critical a decision is and how much it may affect others, it may also be appropriate to gather research and consult with others – and then process whether there is a consensus and whether that consensus agrees with your own independent thinking.

I have typically found that competent and motivated people generally don’t have too much trouble going through the steps that I’ve outlined above, and they are pretty comfortable in doing so. If a delay in the process occurs, it is typically at that stage when the actual decision has to be made: whether to accept the job offer; whether to approach the attractive man or woman who seems to be noticing you in a club; whether to confront the individual that you believe has wronged you. It is at point where people who have problems with decision-making tend to over-think and over-analyze to the point of immobility. Ultimately, the decision gets made by inactivity, and the job is no longer open, the attractive person is now talking to someone else, too much time has passed to right a wrong, etc.

Negative thinking gets in the way of productive thinking when a person over-thinks. Catastrophic fantasies of what can go wrong keep surfacing, and these tend to crowd out positive thinking.

Good decision-makers tend to do two things that over-thinkers don’t do. Early in the process, they think about what can go right, and they tend to be realistic about the consequences of making a wrong decision. Not every bad decision has horrendous consequences.  Good decision-makers sometimes choose to not move forward based upon a realistic assessment of the situation. When they moving forward, however, it is with comfort of knowing that they didn’t only consider negative outcomes; they didn’t drain themselves by the process of negative over-thinking; and they recognized what can go right – as well as what can go wrong.  This process enables both greater confidences in one’s decision-making ability and greater acceptance of the consequences of any decision.

WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen, is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.
Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

“WHAT CAN GO RIGHT” is On Sale

The ebook that is the basis for this blog is now on sale at a deep discount. The publisher, Smashwords, is running a sale during the month of July, and this is your opportunity to purchase “WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen,” in any of a number of formats for 75% less than its normal price of $9.99. Follow this link to preview or purchase the book http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46108

“WHAT CAN GO RIGHT is now also available through Amazon, but the July sale price is only available through Smashwords.

For those of you who purchase the book, I recommend that you also sign up for a free membership to The Mental Health Gym. The book and website work together to promote optimism, happiness, and goal-achieving psychotherapy.  Check out the website at:  http://www.thementalhealthgym.com.

Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

The Importance of Being Active

Developing an orientation that emphasizes the value of activity over passivity is a major key in goal achievement. When it comes time to set goals and work toward their achievement, those who have an active lifestyle have it all over their passive counterparts. It’s fine to be passive during a relaxing vacation. That’s why it’s a vacation – because it involves a change in your activity level. My thoughts on the importance of being active are summarized in the following paragraph from the ebook, “WHAT CAN GO RIGHT?”

ACHIEVEMENT TAKES PLACE THROUGH BEING ACTIVE: This seems almost too simple to mention, but it is important. Most people who achieve, regardless of how privileged or advantageous their backgrounds, accomplish this through being active. There are many instances in history of individuals who took a family fortune or business or kingdom and managed to mess it up in some way. Those who have accomplished have recognized that passivity does not generally lead to success. Those of us who have participated in sports recognize that practice is a necessary to winning – although it is not a guarantee. Practice is also a necessary component of achieving in virtually every field. Until you find a subject about which you can be passionate, studying in school may not be too much fun, but it markedly enhances your chances of learning. Working hard is often not as much fun as taking off early, but successful people recognize the need to be active in order to achieve and maintain success.

A good activity level also is one of the best ways of warding off depression. It is hard to be active and depressed at the same time – not impossible, but hard. Understanding this has implications for those of us who are parents. Teaching children to be active is an important parenting skill. There is a time for relaxing, and it is also important to encourage this in our offspring, but an enthusiastic activity level should be the default when it’s time to achieve.

WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen, is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.
Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

Thinking Positively Is Not Enough

Thomas Edison said it best: “Vision without execution is hallucination”. In other words, it is not just enough to think about what can go right unless we put those thoughts into action. Too often, individuals win major intrapersonal battles by successfully overcoming such problems as depression, anxiety disorders, drug, & alcohol addictions, relationship difficulties, and/or or low achievement, but they fail to take that next step of setting positive goals. Overcoming a negative behavior is great, but it can lead to that old refrain of, “Is that all there is?” unless the negative behaviors are replaced by the achievement of proactive positive goals.

The ebook, WHAT CAN GO RIGHT, was designed to be a guide toward taking the first steps in the direction of making good things happen. This is part of a comprehensive approach to therapy and daily living that is being discussed in these blog postings, and these thoughts will be further expanded upon over the next several weeks. One of the most important concepts in this process is the setting of goals that can replace former behaviors and/or further build an emotionally healthy pattern of functioning. Appropriate goals are realistic, measurable, and provide for incremental progress to ensure the chances of success.

WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen, is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.

Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

The Proactive Positive Explosion

The concept of “The Proactive Positive Explosion” was first introduced in the ebook, WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? This notion was based upon my experiences with patients whose progress has been more dramatic the an others. The Proactive Positive Explosion occurs when an individual sets out to make changes in three areas at the same time – and then consistently moves toward those goals, even at an incremental rate.

I am allied with that part of psychology that believes that personality change can take place throughout the life span. While any type of change is good for confidence and self-esteem, making three changes at once is dramatically different. It is the game changer, and people who have accomplished The Proactive Positive Explosion make change an ongoing part of their lives, and this becomes one of the hallmarks or their personalities.

Try it yourself. Pick out tree areas for change. These could include any activities that are meaningful to you -such as spending more time with your family, exercising, dieting, reading more, developing a hobby, being more positive about your job, or working on developing a more coherent philosophy of life. Set a long term goal and take steps toward achieving it (the ebook contains a sample exercise card to guide you). It is generally easier to begin with areas of change that are totally dependent upon you as opposed to being reliant upon the cooperation of others. For example it is easier to work on changing a bad habit than on improving the relationship with a spouse or significant other – unless the other also buys into the need for change. You will know when you have progressed far enough in the direction of The Proactive Positive Explosion when you are positive and excited about the process of change. At that point, you won’t consider it a hardship or drudgery, and you will embrace opportunities to make positive changes in other areas.

WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen,” is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.

Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

Inertia: The Great Non-equalizer

The difference between those people who create, solve problems, and generally make things happen, and those who don’t is rarely a difference in ability, creativity, or strength. Lots of us have great ideas that can impact favorably on the lives of others – sometimes in huge ways. People who are able to bring their ideas to fruition are the ones who are able to overcome inertia. It’s easier to delay or take time out to rest or make something a non-prioity by judging it negatively before allowing the idea to be tested. Giving in to inertia thus becomes unfair to both one’s self and the larger society that could benefit from it.

I recommend a tickler file. When you have a plan to propose to others or a project that could benefit others, but you are feeling overloaded at the moment, I suggest that you pick a realistic date to do it – or to at least get started. File it under that date, and let that file be your personal weapon in the battle to overcome inertia and to make good things happen.

“WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen,” is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.

Ron Kaiser, Ph. D..

Book Reviews

This is being written at the start of a holiday weekend. I decided to celebrate by taking it easy and use this week’s blog to highlight the comments of some respected pros who have read and reviewed, WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? I hope that some of the rest of you who have read the ebook will be willing to write a review – favorable or not.

“Ron’s effort to help us all understand how to accurately, rationally, sanely and sensibly deal with life’s ups and downs is a treasure that ought to be included in every first session of therapy and counseling.  His ability to demystify thinking, to put tools in our hands to best cope with emotions that “feel” overwhelming to us, and to “non-medicalize” emotional upset, is masterful. Here is a lifetime of insight in an easy to read, easy to use book for anyone who wakes up every morning to face the trials and tribulations of life.”
Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
Clinical, Corporate and Fitness Psychologist
San Diego Magazine’s “Dr. San Diego”

“Being sane and emotionally healthy is like going to the gym – one needs to develop one’s happiness and mental health muscles. Ron Kaiser is a great personal trainer for well-being and great relationships. He gives us some great tools to get and stay mentally well.”
Bill O’Hanlon
Featured Oprah guest and author or “Do One Thing Different” and “Change 101”
Santa Fe

“Brilliant! Ron Kaiser, an extraordinary bright and talented clinical psychologist has done it! …………… a treasure trove of skills and strategies that easily enables patients and clinicians alike to achieve optimum physical and mental health goals. The father of thementalhealthgym.com., Ron offers all of us an opportunity to actualize exploration of existing ways of thinking and behaving, and develop new ones utilizing recent paradigm shifting work in mind-body and positive psychology along with the support of many and varied resources available in the gym…………Indeed, “What could go right?”!                  Kate L, MacDonald, PhD, RN                                                                                              Clinical Psychologist and Health & Wellness Coach                                                          Mercer Island, Washington

“WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen,” is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.

Ron Kaiser, Ph. D..

Practice Optimism

Optimism doesn’t come naturally. True, it’s easier for some than for others because they have had optimistic role models and personal characteristics – like good health, intelligence, and opportunities – that have made success more attainable, and a history of success increases the expectation that good things will happen in the future. Just like with the development of other skills and attitudes, however, the fact that something isn’t easy doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. There is a good body of evidence to suggest that being positive leads to positive feedback from others and it increases the possibility of good things happening.

Thus, if you are applying for a job or trying to make a new friend or even facing an uncomfortable conversation with a spouse, child, friend, or co-worker, the potential for a favorable outcome is enhanced if you approach the situation expecting a positive outcome. That’s hard to do if optimism is a foreign language to you. I encourage you to practice optimism every day by noting your accomplishments, appreciate yourself for what you’ve accomplished, and write them down. Review your list of large and small accomplishments on a regular basis, embrace them, and make them an ongoing part of you. Practice optimism – so it will actually come naturally to you. You will find that facing challenges such as those noted above will be less intimidating to you.

“WHAT CAN GO RIGHT? The Thinking Person’s Guide to Making Good Things Happen,” is a manual designed to use the principles of positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral therapy to enhance personal growth, achievement, and happiness. It is available as an ebook from the publisher at http://www.smashwords.com.

Ron Kaiser, Ph. D..

Happiness is Achieved Through a Life in Balance

Sometimes I use this blog to highlight a section from my ebook, “What Can Go Right?’, and I’m doing it this week. I’ve found that people can be happy and productive if they don’t forget to include balance in their lives. Below is a summary of my thoughts. What do you think?

Activity levels are important in achieving one’s goal, but it is equally important to leave time for recreation, socialization, and experiencing meaning in one’s life through spirituality or other means. All of us know people who have thrown their entire selves into their work at a sacrifice to their marriage and family lives and general enjoyment of life. If there is only one area of focus in your life, it leads to a striving for perfection in that area. That makes it impossible to be totally happy because perfection can never be reached. You can’t make all the money in the world, you can’t ever be totally satisfied with your body image, and you can’t always get everyone to agree with you. Happy people take a degree of satisfaction from participating in the processes that lead to some level of accomplishment in various areas, but they don’t demand perfection. If one operates from the assumption of happiness is one of the things that you want to have go right in your life, a necessary corollary is the importance of maintaining a degree of balance.

Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.