The Science of Real Optimism: A Conversation With Dr. Deepika Chopra

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Meet Dr. Deepika Chopra, a behavioral scientist, clinical psychologist, and author of The Power of Real Optimism. Often called The Optimism Doctor, Dr. Chopra’s work explores the intersection of mindset, resilience, and wellbeing. 

At a time when uncertainty feels constant, her research offers a refreshing reframing: optimism isn’t about ignoring reality or forcing positivity. Instead, it’s a set of learnable skills that help us remain curious, adaptable, and engaged with life, even when things feel messy or unpredictable. 

Below, Dr. Chopra shares with TQE how her work evolved, the science behind “real optimism,” and the small daily practices that help anyone build resilience starting…today. 

Q: Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me about yourself and your background.  

A: “I’m a behavioral scientist and psychologist who has spent my career studying the intersection of mindset, health, and resilience—how the way we think shapes the way we live. I completed my doctoral training in clinical health psychology and later a dual postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA and Cedars-Sinai, where I studied behavioral medicine and mind-body health.

Over time, my work naturally began centering around one question: why do some people remain engaged and hopeful even when life becomes difficult, while others feel paralyzed by uncertainty? I became fascinated by how much our interpretation of events shapes our experience of them. The way we explain what’s happening to us often ends up shaping how we move through it.

That curiosity eventually became the foundation of my work on optimism—not as a personality trait or personality type, but as a set of psychological skills that help people navigate real life. That work ultimately led to my book, The Power of Real Optimism, which explores how we can stay open, curious, and resilient even when life is messy and unpredictable.”

Q. You’re known as The Optimism Doctor. How did that identity evolve, and what did you see missing in the way we talk about optimism today?
A: “The nickname actually came about in a very organic way. At one point a client jokingly referred to me as his ‘doctor of optimism,’ and over time people started calling me the Optimism Doctor. It stuck in a way that made me smile because it captured the essence of the work I was already doing.

What I noticed in both my work was that optimism had become widely misunderstood. In popular culture it’s often reduced to positive thinking or motivational slogans—this idea that if you just think happy thoughts, everything will work out. But the science tells a much more nuanced story.

Real optimism isn’t about pretending things are fine. It’s about how we interpret and respond to difficulty. Psychologists call this explanatory style—the way we explain setbacks to ourselves. People who are more resilient tend to see challenges as temporary and specific rather than permanent and defining.

So what I call real optimism isn’t blind positivity. It’s a skill set that helps people stay engaged with life even when things are hard. In many ways it’s less about positivity and more about resilience and curiosity.”

Q: The 33-Day Real Optimism Challenge in your book feels especially timely. What inspired that structure, and what transformations have you seen from people who’ve completed it?

A: “There’s a very common belief that it takes 21 days to build a new habit, but that number actually isn’t supported by strong scientific evidence. Research on habit formation shows that it can take anywhere from about 18 to 254 days for a behavior to become automatic, with around 66 days being the average in one widely cited study.

So when I was designing the challenge, I thought a lot about how people actually build new psychological patterns. Insight can happen in a moment, but change happens through repetition. The first phase of change is usually the hardest—that’s when the brain is resisting doing something new.

Thirty-three days felt like a meaningful entry point. It’s long enough for people to begin experiencing a real shift, but not so long that it feels overwhelming. And if I’m being honest, I’ve always loved the symbolism of the number three.

What I’ve seen from people who complete the challenge is that something subtle but powerful begins to happen. They start noticing that their mindset isn’t magically fixed…They begin to see that the way they interpret events can change—and that realization alone can be incredibly empowering and is the starting point for a real mindset shift.”

Q: For someone navigating uncertainty right now, what’s one small practice they can start with today?

A: “One practice I often recommend is something I call a ‘Ta-Da List.’

Most of us keep a running list of everything we didn’t finish or everything that went wrong that day. Our brains are wired with a negativity bias—we naturally track problems more than progress.

At the end of the day, instead of only reviewing what’s unfinished, write down three things you handled. Not impressive things—just real things. Maybe you had a difficult conversation, showed up for work when you were tired, or simply got through a challenging day.

When the brain sees evidence that you can handle things, it builds something psychologists call self-efficacy—the belief that you can navigate challenges. And that belief is one of the strongest predictors of optimism and resilience.”

Q: We’re living in what feels like an age of collective burnout and uncertainty. Why is Real Optimism especially important right now?

A: “We’re living through a moment where people are absorbing enormous amounts of uncertainty—economically, politically, environmentally, personally. And the human brain doesn’t love uncertainty. When we can’t predict what’s coming next, the brain’s threat detection system activates, which can leave people feeling chronically on edge.

Real optimism is important because it gives people tools for staying psychologically engaged with life instead of shutting down or numbing out. It allows us to acknowledge the complexity of the moment while still believing that our actions and choices matter.

Optimism in this sense isn’t blind hope. It’s the belief that even in uncertain times we still have the capacity to adapt, respond, and move forward.”

Q: Is there a moment in your own life when optimism felt particularly hard, and what helped you rebuild it?

A: “There was a period when my young son was diagnosed with a serious illness, and it was easily the most frightening and uncertain time of my life.

What made that moment particularly surreal is that I was in the middle of writing The Power of Real Optimism. I remember thinking at one point, almost with a sense of irony, that I was writing a book about optimism while feeling the furthest thing from optimistic.

But what ended up helping me move through that time were the same tools I was writing about—small grounding practices, reframing how the brain interprets uncertainty, and focusing on what was within reach each day.

It reminded me that optimism isn’t a constant feeling. It’s something we practice, especially in the moments when it feels hardest.”

Q: What’s one misconception about optimism you wish more people understood?

A: “The biggest misconception is that optimism means feeling happy or positive all the time.

A genuinely optimistic person is actually very aware of the difficulties and setbacks in life. The difference is that they don’t interpret those setbacks as permanent or defining. They see them as something that can change or be navigated over time.

Optimism is really more about resilience and curiosity than positivity. It’s the willingness to ask, ‘How might this evolve?’ even when you don’t yet know the answer.”

Q: Outside of your work, what currently brings you joy or helps you reset?

A: “Music has always been one of my biggest resets. I have a small ritual I started during the pandemic that I still keep today—what I jokingly call ‘wake up and dance.’ The first thing I do in the morning is put on a song and dance, even if it’s just for thirty seconds before the day begins.

I also find a lot of joy in small sensory moments—making tea, reading something that has nothing to do with work, or having long conversations with people I care about. Those moments remind me that optimism is often sustained not by grand gestures but by small experiences that reconnect us to life.”

Q:  If you could leave our readers with one mindset shift to carry into this year, what would it be?

A: “One helpful shift is remembering that uncertainty is not the same thing as danger.

Our brains often treat the two as identical, but uncertainty is also where possibility lives. Many of the most meaningful chapters of our lives begin in moments where we didn’t yet know how things would unfold.

Real optimism is the mindset that allows us to step into that uncertainty with curiosity instead of fear.”

Intrigued? Inspired? Grab a copy of The Power of Real Optimism here, and follow Dr. Chopra for more insight here.