Practical Coach: Management Skills for Everyday Life, The

Optimism and Success

Research by social psychologist Shelly Taylor and others provides ample evidence that happy and effective people tend to be somewhat out of touch with reality. Specifically, they tend to interpret themselves and the world around them with a positive bias. They see themselves as more talented than they are, the environment as more controllable than it is, and the world as a considerably more positive place than data would suggest. They also see the future as holding “an unrealistically bountiful set of opportunities.” Taylor calls these generous interpretations of reality “creative self-deceptions” or “positive illusions,” and makes a strong case that they are foundations of personal effectiveness and well-being.^[32]

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