How to Think Like an Optimist: Cultivating a Positive Mindset

April 22, 2025

How To Think Like An Optimist

Optimism has been linked to several health benefits (optimists have even been found to have a longer lifespan). Learn how to think like an optimist.

What is optimism? Characteristics of optimists

Most of us perceive our lives and the world around us in specific ways. For example, while some people are detail oriented, others may prefer to focus on the big picture. Another common difference in perception is related to how we view the future.

Optimism refers to a positive outlook on future events. People who believe in the likelihood of beneficial outcomes are considered optimistic. For example, someone who is optimistic might feel confident about their career prospects, despite uncertainty in the job market. Those who feel negatively about the future, however, are considered pessimistic.

What qualities do optimists share?

Optimism is linked to a variety of traits and tendencies, including the following:

High self-esteem
Positive view of others
Gratitude
Desire to achieve goals
Resiliency
Adaptability
Solution-focused thinking
Emotional intelligence

Can you become more optimistic?

If you think of yourself as a naturally pessimistic person, you may not believe there is any way you can actually change your mentality to see the world as a more hopeful place. However, several evidence-based strategies have been found to be effective in cultivating a more optimistic mindset. Below, we’re discussing ways of developing a more positive outlook through telehealth approaches and self-guided practices.

Explanatory style and optimism

An “explanatory style,” according to noted positive psychology researcher and “Learned Optimism” author Dr. Martin Seligman, is the way in which a person explains to themselves and others how events in their life are caused, particularly concerning unfavorable events.

Positive explanatory style

With a positive explanatory style (associated with higher levels of optimism), a person tends to believe that adverse or unfortunate events occur due to external factors, typically the situation, other people, or random chaos. The cause of the negative event is typically seen as specific only to that event, meaning subsequent negative events are unlikely to happen in other areas of a person’s life.

Negative explanatory style

In contrast, a negative or pessimistic explanatory style can lead a person to believe that undesirable events are caused by some inherent, unchangeable bad quality within themselves that they cannot change. According to this mindset, these negative personality traits will lead to unfortunate events in multiple areas of one’s life. Unsurprisingly, a pessimistic explanatory style is associated with higher levels of negative thinking and negative emotions. People who default to this explanatory style might often be hard on themselves.

How to think like an optimist: Shift your explanatory style

There are ways to minimize negative self-talk patterns associated with a pessimistic explanatory style. Making a conscious effort to reframe how you think about your circumstances can help train your brain to default to a more optimistic outlook.

Recognizing and reframing negative thought patterns

When something upsetting happens — like missing an important video therapy session — identify the negative thoughts about yourself that follow the event as they come up. If you think, “No wonder I missed my appointment; I’m always running behind because I’m so disorganized! I’ll probably miss my next session too!” recognize that this is an example of a negative explanation that focuses on a bad quality in you, not on the situation itself. This thought pattern exemplifies the negative explanatory style.

Try to use positive thinking to reframe the situation more optimistically: “No wonder I missed my appointment — my internet connection unexpectedly went down just as I was logging in. That probably isn’t going to happen again any time soon, and I can request a backup phone option for next time.” With some practice, you may find that your brain will default to the positive explanatory style, focusing less on yourself and more on external factors, which can cultivate a more positive outlook.

Start (or change up) a journaling practice

Journaling about personal and professional successes and things you are proud of can help build your self-esteem. High self-esteem is a protective factor against various prevalent mental conditions, and it can help you to learn to think like an optimist. It can be easier to assume positive outcomes will result from situations if you believe in yourself.

Fostering optimism by practicing gratitude

A gratitude journal is one form of journaling associated with increased optimism levels. Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation for anything in your life that you find meaningful in a positive or constructive way. You can feel grateful for the big things in your daily life (perhaps a career that brings you a sense of purpose) or the little things (perhaps a beautiful rose bush you pass on your way to work every day).

To start a gratitude journal, take time every day to sit down for a few minutes and record one or two things that happened that day that you are grateful for. It is best to do this at the same time each day to establish a habit — many people enjoy gratitude journaling right before bed, so they go to sleep with a thankful heart. Knowing that you will be writing down what you are grateful for can motivate you to pay more attention to moments in your daily life that inspire gratitude, which may help to build a more optimistic mindset.

Expressing yourself can help you learn how to think like an optimist

You can also use journaling in other ways to practice optimism. Sometimes, journaling is thought of as a way to “vent” negative feelings. While this practice can certainly be beneficial, don’t forget that you can also use journaling to write about positive emotions. If you journal whenever you are feeling a happy emotion, you can start to notice the prevalence of happiness and joy in your life.

If you want to take your journaling practice a step further, you could reflect on the ways in which you yourself have cultivated happiness and joy. For example, if you had a productive therapy session that gave you new insights, acknowledge your courage in being vulnerable and your commitment to personal growth.

Keep in mind that journaling doesn’t have to include hand-writing paragraphs of complete sentences. Perhaps you jot down bullet points in a small notebook you keep on you, or maybe you record your entries on your phone or computer. Find what works and go with that.

Practicing mindfulness

Higher levels of mindfulness have been linked to lower levels of rumination, which is the tendency to focus excessively on perceived personal shortcomings or unfortunate experiences (closely linked to pessimism).

Writing in a journal is one way of practicing mindfulness, which is the process of grounding yourself in the present moment and observing what is going on in your mind and body without judgment. Many telehealth platforms like ReachLink offer guided mindfulness exercises as part of their comprehensive mental health resources.

Cultivate optimism in therapy

Sometimes, methods of building optimism can seem easier said than done. Particularly with shifting explanatory styles, you may be so used to thinking about yourself and the world with one type of thought pattern in one specific way, and trying and consistently reframing your thoughts to promote more optimistic thinking can be a challenging long-term endeavor.

It might help to talk to a professional counselor to find additional support in developing an optimistic mindset. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of mental health treatment that focuses explicitly on changing thought patterns and habits, and you do not need to have a diagnosed mental illness to reap the benefits of such treatment.