Tired of Daily Pessimistic Pet Peeves?

Oct. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Why is Dr. Russ Buss releasing eighteen of his daily pet peeves.  

He says: "As someone who is dedicated to teaching others how to put more optimism into their lives, I spend considerable time monitoring my own moments of optimism and pessimism throughout the day."

He explains further: "Even the best of the skilled optimists, including myself, have many pessimistic moments each and every day."

He says that by showing his own daily encounters with pessimistic thoughts that he might be able to show that the key to staying optimistic is to be able to rapidly identify the pessimistic thought and let go of it in a moment or two.

Here are Eighteen of his most frequent daily pet peeves.

Eighteen Pessimistic Pet Peeves

  1. A salesperson who keeps trying to pressure me to buy something every time I run into her at a networking event.  I think, "I don’t want to be rude! Why doesn’t this person get it!?" I do not want the product.  They are wasting my time.
  2. Junk mail.  Somehow I keep thinking it might have something of value and it piles up on my desk.
  3. Unsolicited phone calls and drop in visits.  I am usually engrossed in something like writing or relaxing at home with a book or TV program.  I guess I resent the interruption, and then ask myself why I bothered to answer the phone or door.  Well, I guess I thought it was somebody I needed to talk to.
  4. Having to stop to get gas.  I drive short distances and usually do not plan on stopping for gas.  So, I just keep putting it off until the gauge is on empty.  Then I really have to get gas an inconvenient time.
  5. Standing in line at the grocery store.  I am thinking how boring this is and what a waste of time.
  6. Internet service going down.  I am thinking I won’t get needed work done today.
  7. People who don’t do what they said they would do.  I find myself annoyed because I have to wait to something I needed their stuff to complete or I have an unexpected time slot to fill.
  8. People who leave their windshield wipers running on high when the rain has stopped.  I am thinking, "Why do I have to say something?  Can’t they see it is no longer raining and hear the squeak of rubber against the glass?!"
  9. Sitting next to someone at a meeting who has a bad cold.  I think, "Why did I sit next to this person? Now I am going to get sick.  Then I will be sick for six weeks."
 10. Klutz moves like banging my head on something or walking nose first into the glass of a revolving door.  First, I am usually is some serious pain.  Then I look around to see if anyone saw the “klutz” move.  Finally, I berate myself for being such an ignoramus.
 11. People who don’t pick up on obvious non verbal cues.  I think, “Can’t this individual see I have stood up and look like I am ready to go?”
 12. People who don’t read or listen to clear and well distributed public announcements and then ask me to repeat the information.  I think they are wasting my time and should be more self-sufficient.
 13. Spilling my latte on my lap.  Now I am going to have an ugly stain on my pants all day or I have to take time to change, and I don’t get the satisfaction of finishing the latte, either!!
 14. People who don’t send thank you notes.  Here I am clearly judging others by my own standards.  I send thank you notes, “Why can’t they?”
 15. Improper grammar.  I never was a big fan of diagramming sentences in 6th grade English class, but I do find it grating to have the “King's English” so mangled at times.
 16. Rubbernecking to look at an accident.  The rubbernecks cause the traffic to slow down more that the accident itself.   I an already on a mission to be somewhere and slow traffic is getting in my way.
 17. People who sit at a left turn light when left signal turns green.  I think, “How in the world could someone’s reaction time be so slow?  Don’t they have anywhere to go?  I am on a mission and they are interfering with my time schedule for the day."
 18. A driver talking on a cell phone and clearly not paying attention to the road.  I think, “Can’t this person show more consideration? Everyone else out here is going someplace, and they are not on a mission to stop and chat."

He believes everyone has a list of pet peeves that they could verbalize on the spot.  But, the important "take away" point for remaining optimistic is to take a look at the negative thought that underlies the peeve and then to figure out the faulty logic in thinking.  He says every "pet peeve" above has underlying faulty logic.  And, he wants to challenge people to look for those faults.

To find more optimism click on: http://www.drrussbuss.com

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