Organisms that are better attuned to bad things

Baumeister pioneered the concept
of negativity bias, which refers to the notion that, even when of equal
intensity, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on our psychological
state than do neutral or positive things. 

In his groundbreaking study, his team
found that the innate predisposition of the psyche was to focus on bad, not
good. It’s evolutionarily adaptive. Organisms that are better attuned to bad
things are more likely to survive threats and pass along their genes. 

However, the psychologists ultimately concluded that even though bad
events may have a stronger impact than a comparable good one, many lives can be
happier by virtue of having far mood good than bad. 

And that’s what gave me
hope. Because my default response, especially during the creative process, is
to pull the whip out and start beating myself up. 

Like many sensitive and
critical artsy fartsy types, I have a habit of being too hard on myself. And
yet, despite the pull of my negativity bias, I’m learning to err on the side of
affirmation. Instead of waving a scornful finger at every misstep, I’m giving
myself the recognition I deserve for my efforts. 

Because it’s not about right
or wrong, good or bad, winning or losing. Binaries like that chew your guts
into knots. 

What matters is that you demonstrate to yourself that you are
determined to move forward. What matters is that you appreciate each execution
that comes along, not as proof of worth, but as the next installment of your
continuing saga. T

That’s the mindset guaranteed to turn your dreams into
realities.


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* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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