Are You An Optimist Or even a Pessimist?
Are You An Optimist Or even a Pessimist?
May be the glass half full or half empty? Will the product, policy, strategy work or fail? Can one really achieve my dreams or shall we be held surviving in fantasy-land?
These and a huge selection of other questions are asked each day by well meaning and difficult employees.
Lionel Tiger as part of his great book, Optimism, the Biology of Hope, written over 40 years ago discusses how optimism impacts a person's attitudes, outlook, success and health. He suggests that those people who are less optimistic about life, the present and the future have a tendency to get sick more frequently and quite often die sooner. Inside the book, Learned Optimism by Segleman, he discusses how each of us begins every project, activity, task, relationship, career etc. with the YES or perhaps a NO or perhaps a YES I will and i'll or NO I cannot and I won't within their hearts.
You can not measure optimism. You cannot bottle it, regulate it, run out of it or manufacture it but you can learn to develop it as it were only take the time and effort. Many people feel it is advisable to become realistic than optimistic - why start trading for disappointment? Let me know what exactly is realistic? In hindsight in the last A century. Where would we be if: Edison, Bell, Gates, Ford, Land, Disney etall. were realistic? If their attitude had been, it hasn't been done yet and so i guess it cannot be done!
There are several benefits to owning an optimistic outlook. And just as much pitfalls in without having one. Below are a few with the benefits.
Benefits:
You will achieve more, you'll have more fun. you will end up happier, you will have more friends, you will take it easy more, you will end up healthier.
Pitfalls:
The pessimists around the globe will laugh, smile as well as gloat once your optimism appears to provide you with no real obvious benefits. But no-one can determine the hidden payback that will not be evident to society but can be a known is likely to mind and heart.
If you are wondering, questioning or challenging my thinking here I'll give you a concept. Should i be positive and optimistic about something and i'm wrong, what have I lost. If you are negative or pessimistic about something and you're simply right whoever else gained?
In the long run it really isn't about whether we had been correct or incorrect, negative or positive or optimistic or pessimistic. The one thing that means something is did we live a peaceful, happy and contented life with whatever views we held.
