Post by Mya on Feb 14, 2022 8:49:12 GMT
Want to Raise Happy, Healthy, Entrepreneurial Kids? Don't Teach Them the World Is a Bad Place
Startups fail at an alarming rate. According to one study, 90 percent of startups fail within the first five years. Clearly, the startup world is a bad place, and accepting that fact -- going in with eyes wide open -- should be good for small-business owners.
As well as for the people they employ.
Or not.
A 2019 study published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice found that optimism and excitement are contagious. When a founder is enthusiastic, employee commitment and excitement increase. Even "previously disengaged" employees show increases in effort, creativity, and flexibility.
Intuitively, that makes sense.
So why do so many parents feel that making sure their children understand just how dangerous the world can be is good for them? (Research shows nine out of 10 parents feel seeing the world as "safe" to "very safe" is not best for their children.)
The urge is clearly protective. Recognizing physical threat helps us avoid physical threat. Recognizing inherent unfairness helps us avoid situations where we might be treated poorly. Knowing is good for us.
Or not.
According to a recent study published in Journal of Positive Psychology, kids taught that (as the study title puts it) "the world is a bad place" tend to suffer for it.
As the researchers write:
Those with more negative primals (beliefs about the world's basic character) were less healthy, suffered more frequent negative emotional states, were more likely depressed, were more likely to have attempted suicide, were much less satisfied with their lives, and enjoyed dramatically less psychological flourishing, all while disliking their jobs and being slightly worse at them compared to peers in their profession.
In fact, negative primals -- the world is dangerous, things are getting worse, competition is brutal, life is unfair, etc. -- were almost never associated with positive outcomes. For example, a "safe" world belief was strongly correlated with increased life satisfaction in the vast majority of occupations -- including professions where the ability to spot a threat is clearly useful, like law enforcement.
www.inc.com/jeff-haden/raise-happy-healthy-successful-entrepreneurial-kids-positivity-optimism-research-how-to-raise-happy-children.html
Startups fail at an alarming rate. According to one study, 90 percent of startups fail within the first five years. Clearly, the startup world is a bad place, and accepting that fact -- going in with eyes wide open -- should be good for small-business owners.
As well as for the people they employ.
Or not.
A 2019 study published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice found that optimism and excitement are contagious. When a founder is enthusiastic, employee commitment and excitement increase. Even "previously disengaged" employees show increases in effort, creativity, and flexibility.
Intuitively, that makes sense.
So why do so many parents feel that making sure their children understand just how dangerous the world can be is good for them? (Research shows nine out of 10 parents feel seeing the world as "safe" to "very safe" is not best for their children.)
The urge is clearly protective. Recognizing physical threat helps us avoid physical threat. Recognizing inherent unfairness helps us avoid situations where we might be treated poorly. Knowing is good for us.
Or not.
According to a recent study published in Journal of Positive Psychology, kids taught that (as the study title puts it) "the world is a bad place" tend to suffer for it.
As the researchers write:
Those with more negative primals (beliefs about the world's basic character) were less healthy, suffered more frequent negative emotional states, were more likely depressed, were more likely to have attempted suicide, were much less satisfied with their lives, and enjoyed dramatically less psychological flourishing, all while disliking their jobs and being slightly worse at them compared to peers in their profession.
In fact, negative primals -- the world is dangerous, things are getting worse, competition is brutal, life is unfair, etc. -- were almost never associated with positive outcomes. For example, a "safe" world belief was strongly correlated with increased life satisfaction in the vast majority of occupations -- including professions where the ability to spot a threat is clearly useful, like law enforcement.
www.inc.com/jeff-haden/raise-happy-healthy-successful-entrepreneurial-kids-positivity-optimism-research-how-to-raise-happy-children.html