It’s difficult to imagine a job where people face rejection or hostility on a daily, if not hourly basis.

But they are out there: the salesman who strikes out on his first 10 calls of the week; the support services team beaten down by yet another system crash; or the entrepreneur struggling to get financial backing.

It’s a marvel that so many do cope and testament to their optimism, says Jenny Hoops.

Jenny Hoops says a positive approach brings many rewards.

“People can learn all kinds of new skills in today’s world, but being an optimist is the greatest edge you can have in life and in business,” says the 36-year-old Calgarian, a professional speaker and author.

Dubbed Canada’s Sexy Optimist – “It’s a marketing tool,” she laughs – Hoops teaches people the skills to remain optimistic every day.

It’s a philosophical code she’s lived by for the past six years as her own business evolved; and on a personal level as she dealt with multiple sclerosis (now in remission) and a late-term “devastating” miscarriage 18 months ago.

“In my keynotes and seminars, I share my experiences, and discuss my mistakes. There’s a lot of great research out there, and as I’ve grown, I’ve found that incorporating my experiences helps people relate.”

Hoops has a large clientele that includes people suffering from illness, sales teams, small entrepreneurs and large
companies that employ professionals in high-stress jobs.

“I think entrepreneurs especially need to be optimistic to survive,” she says.
“It’s so easy to get discouraged, to get bogged down in the details without seeing the big picture – that there will be success in the future.”

Her brand of optimism isn’t Pollyannish. Everything isn’t always wonderful. But optimists recognize adversity and figure out ways to cope.

Hoops offers the example of the salesperson mired in a
0-for-10 slump.

That person has to understand he or she will be rejected perhaps 80 per cent of the time, or conversely, that for every 16 calls there is one sale.

“An optimist would say: ‘I know that one in 16 calls will be successful. My numbers historically tell me that. If I’ve been rejected three times this morning, then I’ve only got 13 more calls to make before I have a sale.”

In order to cope, people must constantly remind themselves that good things are happening and will happen.

Hoops tells clients to keep a daily diary or journal to document the adversity they face. What are they thinking when they face difficulty? Are they looking for a way to deal with it? Or is this the end of the world?

Be conscious of your reactions as they occur, adds Hoops.
The salesman who gets rejected should say, out loud: “OK just 13 more calls to go.”

It sounds corny, but it works. Otherwise it’s easy to get beat up, to carry the negative thoughts all day, she says.

As a personal example, Hoops explains how she persevered after her miscarriage.

“It was just devastating,” she recalls. “My husband said, ‘Why don’t you do what you tell everyone else to do: Write down the good things about the day.”

She did. She wrote that her mom loved her and called her every day. Her husband loved her. A client was happy with a recent seminar.

“Eventually you get out from under the dark cloud. Yes, this was a bad thing, but it’s only one part of my life. And there are a lot of good things too.”

But optimism doesn’t just push people through trying times, says Hoops. It’s also terribly sexy.

“Sexy in attitude,” she clarifies. “I’m neither extremely beautiful, nor terribly bad-looking. But when I go to
parties, I tend to be surrounded by people, men and women.

“I observe that all the time. When I see an optimistic
person, they draw a crowd. They are warm people,
comfortable to be around.”

A person who has an obvious joy for life, Hoops began Hoops Professional Consulting six years ago. She had been an investigator with Alberta Environment and, when the province was downsizing, she took a severance package.
Business was initially slow and Hoops began creating and selling personal planners in 1998 to help pay her bills.

Containing small inspirational quotes and essays, the planners were a hit – selling out over the past three years. Buoyed by the response, Hoops compiled the essays and quotations into a book called the Dance of Success.

The dance of success is a concept she teaches in every seminar, keynote speech or workshop. It’s an unstructured dance that celebrates the joy of everyday living, she says. If something good happens, do a little dance, because the feeling of elation will stay with you all day long.

Again, she practises what she preaches. She recalls one of her favourite dances – in her bank.

After being in debt for the first few years of business, she’d finally become solvent. As she approached the teller to pay off her line of credit, she plunked down a cheque and broke into a dance.

“The staff there knew me, and once they realized why I was doing it, they joined in. Then I looked around and there were a few people in
line, mostly guys in dark suits, glaring at us.
“So I told them why I was celebrating . . . and they all started moving their arms, doing a little shuffle.”

When she left, the men who had previously been quiet and glum-looking were now smiling, talking to each other.

It was nice to share something with those people, she says. It was another optimistic start to the day.