By Senior Living Ministries

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:14 

Psychologist Martin siegilman of the University of Pennsylvania advised the MetLife insurance company to hire a special group of job applicants, although they had failed a normal aptitude test, tested high on optimism. So the company participated and observed these workers over time. 

They were shocked, then, to observe that compared with salesman who passed the aptitude test but scored high in pessimism, this group made 21% more sales in their first year and 57% more in their second. 

Explaining this phenomenon, Dr. Siegilman reasoned that a pessimist is likely to interpret rejection as meaning, “I’m a failure; I’ll never make a sale.“  Yet when optimists fail, they tell themselves, “I’m using the wrong approach,” or,  “That customer was in a bad mood.” By blaming failure on the situation, not themselves, optimists are hopeful and motivated to make that next call and experience success. 

As Christians, we are also called to be Optimist who are full of Hope. When we give things our best and they don’t go our way, we can safely say that it wasn’t God’s Will and he has something better planned. So instead of experiencing the worst, keep your head up and press on, knowing that God’s plan is perfect and that he’ll always show you his favor.