It’s no secret that uncertainty about everything from AI to the economy is impacting people in the workplace. In fact, nearly half of workers say they typically feel tense and stressed out during the workday, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association . While we may not have control over the outside world, we can control our thoughts and how we respond to it.

The good news is research finds that optimism—specifically resilient optimism, or optimism that stays strong when tested—is not something we must be born with, but is rather a set of behaviors we can learn and regularly practice.

Michelle Gielan, a positive psychology researcher and author of the new book, Resilient Optimism: The Science of Sustaining a Positive Mindset in Tough Times , says, “It’s so easy to start with an optimistic mindset when things are good—new beginnings, new school year, new project at work—but what happens when the first plan fails, or the challenge lasts longer than we expected, or we are simply exhausted? Resilient optimism stays strong throughout that. It’s not just a mindset or expectation that good things will happen; it’s actually a set of behaviors that help get you through that messy middle and a belief that your actions matter.”

I spoke to Gielan to learn how resilient optimism boosts work performance; the daily actions you can practice to build it; and how optimism can be contagious in the workplace.

Optimism In the Workplace Improves Performance

Sure, seeing the glass as half full versus half empty can lift mood, but it even goes beyond that to elevate your work performance at large. “When our brain is in a positive and optimistic state, it fuels just about every single business , educational, and well-being outcome we can possibly measure,” says Gielan.

The stats back this up, including a 31% increase in productivity, according to the Psychological Bulletin ; 37% higher sales, according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ; and even a 40% greater chance of promotion, according to HBR . Moreover, a Forbes study found optimistic employees are 103% more inspired to give their best performance at work as compared to pessimists.

What We Focus On Grows: Shifting From Problems To Solutions

Between the sheer volume of content being put out today, and the algorithms and click bait designed to appeal to anger and anxiety, it’s safe to say many people are spending time consuming less-than-optimistic messaging. “What I’m seeing is that the volume of problems is louder than the volume of progress,” says Gielan. “That has a massive impact on our brain.”

Gielan’s research found that consuming just a few minutes of negative content can have a long-term impact on mood and performance. The findings of two studies in particular she worked on sparked her to write Resilient Optimism. The first study published in the Harvard Business Review found that participants exposed to just three minutes of negative news in the morning were 27% more likely to report their entire day as negative, even six to eight hours later.

A follow-up study exposed participants to a serious problem, such as rising food insecurity in major cities. Half of the participants read only about the problem, while the other half also read about solutions that individuals can take to help alleviate this issue. The group exposed to both the problem and solutions performed 20% better on creative problem-solving tasks later on in the day.

“Simply thinking about solutions—whether you’re engaging in them or not—made the study participants smarter and better at whatever they’re doing,” says Gielan. “The takeaway for leaders is that it’s okay to talk about the problem—and we should be talking about the problem because that’s resilient optimism—but we also need to ask, ‘What’s the next step? How can we move forward? What progress have we made? And what is the thing that we can do right now that helps solve this situation, even if it’s just the start of the solution?’”

Reframe Your Relationship To Stress

No one escapes stress or heartache , no matter how perfect someone’s job or life may look from the outside. While it’s natural to want to avoid feelings of stress, acknowledging and then reframing stress can offer a clue to the deeper meaning underneath it–whether it’s love, ambition or care. “Understanding that stress can tell us some things about the situation can help us process it in a different way,” says Gielan.

Gielan writes in her book that just like muscles grow through resistance, our mental and emotional strength can expand when we engage with difficulty rather than avoid it. A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that when employees saw stress as enhancing instead of damaging, they experienced a 23% drop in stress-related symptoms, such as headaches or fatigue. They also reported greater job satisfaction and were less likely to get burned out.

Reframing stress in your own life is a skill you can build. Gielan recommends doing a stress story audit: Write down a stressful chapter in your life (a job loss, divorce, a big project failed, etc.), and journal using these three prompts:

  • The experience taught me I am (fill in the blank)
  • The experience brought me closer to (fill in the blank)
  • The experience prepared me for (fill in the blank)

The reflective exercise can remind you that you survived your darkest moments, and rather than running away from stress, you can transform it into a reminder that you’ve been resilient in the past and you can be resilient again.

Retrain Your Brain For Optimism: Daily Practices

Gielan shares an example of how looking at the possibilities and progress to get through dark periods helped her in her own life. When her daughter was born prematurely and spent 50 days in the NICU, Gielan shares how she was inspired by one of the NICU nurses who continued to show up for her patients even in the face of deep loss and grief, such as having a patient code.

The nurse shared one of the things she did was to keep an “in-case-of-emergency” folder—notes and photos that reminded her of the positive impact she’s made on families. This practice encouraged her to keep going even during the hardest days and reminded her why she does the work. She was also a senior nurse, so her resilience also impacted the other nurses on the floor, creating a ripple effect.

Difficulties will not disappear, but Gielan says a daily practice she adopted during the pandemic was to text her husband three “best moments” that happened each day, no matter how small. It could be that your daughter gave you a hug, or you played pickleball with a friend, or you tried a new recipe.

The act of noticing and naming these wins doesn’t just boost happiness in the moment—it trains your brain to look for the positive, even during challenging periods. “It’s not a big time commitment, just a few minutes a day, but it switches our focus towards what’s good in our day,” says Gielan.

To translate this for the workplace, Gielan shares you might start a #small-wins Slack or team chat where everyone can post daily or weekly victories to build a culture of recognition. Leaders can adapt this for teams by starting meetings with a round of “What’s a recent win?” or “How has a colleague made your work easier this week?” These practices don’t ignore problems. Instead, they help teams move forward by fueling belief in progress and possibility.

Optimism Can Be Contagious

It’s no secret that our mindset and mood can directly impact those around us. It’s not the most negative person in the meeting or at the dinner table who others listen to the most, but it’s not the most positive person either. It’s actually the person who is the most expressive, says Gielan. An optimistic mindset doesn’t impact others much if you’re not sharing it.

“When optimists go quiet, pessimists get the floor,” says Gielan. “We want to be able to talk about the negative, but we also want to have this drumbeat of optimism. Leaders have that ability, because they’re always talking to their teams and can guide their brains towards those more possibility-oriented directions.”

So whether you’re a leader looking to energize your team, or an individual striving to boost your own resilience, remember: resilient optimism is not something innate, but rather is a daily choice—one you can practice, amplify, and share.