Tougher Than The Times Archive

• Thoughts from a Recovering Pessimist:  The Profitability of Optimism
• One Man is Running to the Roar, Changing a Community
• Will Rolfe be making his debut on Good Morning America? 

by Rolfe Carawan

I have been a motivational speaker for 19 years and have spoken from the platform on four continents.  There were days when companies, school systems, small businesses and organizations readily paid strong fees to bring in an entertaining motivational speaker.  As a speaker, I enjoyed those days, but they are now all but over.  Now, the focus is back where it always should have been:  on results.  So, does that mean there is no room in a results-oriented, stretched-far-too-thin budget for a motivational speaker?  The question is yours to answer. 

"Recent studies show that optimists excel in school, have better health, make more money, establish long and happy marriages, stay connected to their children, and even live longer." 

- Dr. Alan Loy McGinnis

My position- if you are interested-  is that there is NO room in ANY results-oriented budget to bring in a professional "cheerleader"... essentially what I call a "resident optimist" who will perform an optimistic routine for your people.  You see, modeling optimism does very little to drive results, create behavior change or turn education into implementation.  However, TEACHING optimism to your employees, members, or team pays huge bottom-line dividends.

Over a 20 year period, Dr. Martin Seligman studied over half a million people and scientifically validated two facts about optimism.  The first is that optimism is more effective than pessimism.  The second is that optimism can be learned. 

Still, when I present optimism as a "learned" skill and profitable mental technology, I am initially met with a common resistance, based upon the belief that you are born either "naturally optimistic" or "naturally pessimistic".  In my effort to teach organizations how to be "Tougher than the Times", I must break through the myth that optimists are those that smile constantly and rely on their sunny disposition to avoid dealing with "reality".  This is simply not true, and optimism (as a powerful and profitable strategy that can be taught) is much tougher than that. 

Optimism is a proven and precise mental technology with the power to positively impact your bottom-line.  Is there room for THAT in your results-oriented budget?  Call me an optimist, but I would say so.