add learned optimism writeup

Author: Matt Swanson

Diff for: _posts/2012-09-05-learned-optimism.md

@@ -3,7 +3,48 @@ layout: writeup
 title: "Learned Optimism"
 categories:
 - writeup
-published: false
+date: 2012-09-20
 ---
 
-Do this writeup!
+
+![](/static/learned-optimism.jpg)  
+[Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life][link]   
+Martin Seligman    
+ISBN: 0671019112    
+
+---
+
+**What's the point?**  
+Optimism has proven benefits over pessimism is nearly every aspect of life, from 
+personal happiness to success in business. People can learn to become helpless
+and pessimistic, but luckily they can also learn to be become an optimist.
+ 
+**How was it?**  
+The book has a fairly extensive backstory that follows the researcher's journey to 
+understand [learned helplessness][lh] and optimism. It was interesting to see how 
+Seligman took his findings from animals and applied them to humans. I am always 
+intrigued by how psychologists can design an experiment to objectively capture how
+people feel.
+
+[lh]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness
+
+The book includes a test to determine your "optimism level". As expected, my results were
+pessimistic. 
+
+But it was very revealing to see which categories I was worse in. For 
+instance, I scored poorly for the "Permanence Bad" section; this means that my internal 
+explanatory style (how you rationalize things in your mind) tends to make bad things 
+seem permanent ("I suck at X, I always have and always will"). But I scored highly in 
+"Pervasiveness Good", meaning that when something good happened, I allowed that feeling 
+to improve other areas of my life.
+
+The secret sauce to becoming more optimistic is training yourself to think about 
+good events as long-lasting and far-reaching and bad events as temporary, isolated, and
+beyond your control.
+ 
+**Who should read it?**  
+If you're into pop psychology books (like I am), then it's worth a read. There is some
+fascinating stuff about using optimism tests when hiring insurance salesmen that might
+also work for hiring developers.
+
+[link]: http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-ebook/dp/B005DB6S7K/ref=tmm_kin_title_0