Summary of Second Nature by Kathleen Mcgowen

832 Words4 Pages
Alyssa Johnson
CLP1001 Mini Writing Assignment #1 In the book Second Nature by Kathleen McGowan she writes about the ideas of Christopher Peterson. Peterson is a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, his ideas about personality traits are vastly different than what is generally believed in Psychology. Most psychologists today believe that it is virtually impossible to change your personality due to the fact that your traits are set at a young age. Peterson disagrees; He believes that you can change your personality by working against your grain and setting new habits. This change doesn’t happen automatically, you have to put your all into it and see it through. Eventually this new way of being that you worked so hard to create will feel like second nature and will open you up to new experiences and ways of thinking. In addition, there are 4 characteristics that are more amendable to change then other personality traits. These traits are joy, courage, passion, and optimism. To master this change of personality you need to acquire a certain set of skills for each trait. Developing these traits can fill your life with satisfaction, purpose, and happiness and lead you on a road to a wonderful life. Optimism isn’t about being constantly happy or thinking positively 24/7. It’s about taking steps that are mandatory to cultivating a better future for yourself. Practicing to behave like an optimist can help you develop this trait. Before you can have an optimistic outlook you need to have optimistic behavior. Persistence towards your goals and never giving up along the way is one kind of behavior of optimists. Taking small steps that contribute to beneficial results will help protect you from digressing. When you believe that good fortune is coming your way and wonderful things happen every day you will be on your way to mastering this characteristic.

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