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Saturday, September 30, 2000

I'm an Optimist?



Heh. According to this Optimism Test:

Results of your Optimism/Pessimism Inventory

Your score: 63 (possible range: 0 = for extreme pessimism, to 100 = for extreme optimism)

You are not a complete optimist, but more often than not, the optimist in you takes over. You are down-to-earth and generally see things for what they are. Yours is quite an adaptive way to approach life. All the goodies in life are easier to achieve if you have a positive attitude towards life. This positive outlook energizes you, helps you to mobilize your strengths and serves as a source of motivation to keep you going during the hard times. You try to find the good side of things that happen in your life. Even if a situation is predominantly bad, there are usually some good aspects - for example, a negative situation may help you to grow, to learn from your own mistakes and to avoid ineffective behavior in the future. You seem to be able to sift through the gloomy stuff and find the positives. Value and nurture this ability, it's one of your strong points.

And according to this Type A Personality Test:

Your Type A Personality Test Results

Score: 64 (min = 0: typical Type B personality, max = 100: typical Type A personality)

You seem to be in the middle between the Type A and Type B personality. In this case, the middle ground is good. Your attitude to life is more of the ''smell the roses'' kind and you know how and when to relax. Nonetheless, you realize that picking up a challenge and competing a little bit for your place in the sun can add some spice to your life. The equilibrium is important, so don't let your hostile, aggressive, and competitive alter ego take over too often. Generally, you are easy to be around, and people tend to feel relaxed and comfortable in your presence. Yours is a very healthy attitude towards life.

Annnd according to this Colors Test:

High Sensation Seeking (HSS) means that you really enjoy high energy, thrill-seeking kinds of activities. You seldom follow the crowd, instead often taking the road less traveled. Your idea of a good time is a thrilling emotional experience that challenges you to the max. Because you seek out high energy experiences, other people probably think of you as a risk-taker. The people in your life most probably admire you as an avant-guard, leading edge kind if individual who is likely to be tuned into new trends ahead of the curve. People are drawn to your adventurous spirit.

Annnnnnnddd according to this Self Esteem Test:

Your Self-Esteem Test Results

Score: 58 (min = 0: extremely low self-esteem; max = 100: extremely high self-esteem)

According to this test, you have reasonably high self-esteem. However, there is still a lot of space for improvement. You need to realize that everybody has self-doubts, and everybody fails something at some point. It's part of the human experience. Trouble begins when you take the failure so seriously that you generalize the experience and expect the worst from the future. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: you expect something to happen and consequently behave in a way that increases the Probability of it really happening. The expectation of failure may influence how much effort you are willing to invest and how long you hang on when faced with a challenge. It creates performance anxiety, resulting in compromised concentration and hesitation. You may very well have the ability and the desire to succeed, but expecting failure can keep you from responding with adaptive decision-making and action. Such behavior will result in increased likelihood of failure, which in turn confirms what you expected in the first place.

Actually, they all sound about right! (If anyone I know tries these tests, share your results -- I'm curious!)

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Simon Funk / simonfunk@gmail.com