Learned Optimism

1. The One Thing. ~ Gary Keller 2. Mini Habits. ~ Stephen Guise 3. Learned Optimism. ~ Martin Seligman 4. Spark. ~ John Ratey 5. Miracle of Mindfulness. ~ Thich nhat hanh

Read books you always wanted but wouldn't get around to with all the distractions available at home. Be it classics, political theory, maybe something light and scientific? Generally, whatever doesn't require additional materials. Here are some titles of that kind I enjoyed. Anabasis by Xenophon Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman The Son also Rises by Gregory Clark

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, while not the most influential book I've read, affects my thinking on a daily basis. Whenever something bad happens to me or I come across a mental block, I use a few techniques from the book to keep it from affecting me. Keep in mind, my definition of "bad" is pretty loose. For example, one of the bad events I encounter on a regular basis is being stumped by a difficult math problem. If I were to allow myself to fall into a pessimistic line of thinking, it would make solving problems that much harder in the future. Seligman found that pessimistic people learn to be helpless and that once they do, they stop believing in their ability to change things. For example, a certain subset of subjects who were given a series of unsolvable problems were unable to solve simple anagrams afterward. These people, according to the theory, learned to be helpless. However, there was a subset of people who were able to solve the anagrams. These were the people, according to the theory, who had developed the ability to remain optimistic in spite of misfortune. Amazon link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1400078393/