Reducing My Optimism Bias

Over this past year I learned that my negative beliefs I had about myself regarding my potential were the cause of my lack of success in my school work. When I first did academic decathlon last summer I kept telling myself that I wasn’t capable of being as great as the top students in the class. This year I went in with a different attitude, therefore proving to myself that there was nothing wrong with my brain, and I can in fact be successful with hard work and dedication. Reducing my optimism bias would be beneficial to me in this scenario because it would keep me grounded and push me to study even when I excel on an exam. If I were to overlook the optimism bias, I could potentially harm myself because I would be overlooking the fact that …show more content…
Everyone always assumes it’ll never be them that will get hurt at a party, but in reality life does not function in that manner. If the bias is not taken into consideration when doing something such as drunk driving, multiple tragedies could occur. One could get serious brain damage, even die, or hurt an innocent person that happened to come across them while driving. While being optimistic could allow one to have fun at a party instead of being paranoid that something bad could happen, it is still important to take it into account to avoid potential dangers such as not driving while …show more content…
I knew a couple who lived together, and were planning on getting a larger home that would require more expenses. They thought that it would be a great thing for them to do and felt that they were financially stable. Once they moved in they realized that there was miscommunication in regards to who was to pay what. Had the optimism bias not taken them over, they could have planned out more thoroughly and been more clear as to what they were willing to contribute to the house payments. Similarly, on the other side of the scale, if they were too discouraged that things were not going to work out, the situation could have resulted in a split or they would have never experienced how the situation would truly be like if they were too afraid to take such a large