Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist?
Every decision in life that we make, we make based on our veiw of the options. There are lenses, if you will, that we can see the choices through. These lenses are mostly subject to our situation and our background. They form our perception of the world. Our perception of the world is either optimistic or pessimistic.
I’ve come to the conclusion that virtually everyone falls into one of these categories(in varying degrees). The optimist believes in the overall good of people. They see the good in things as well as the opportunities in various situations. The pessimist is the opposite. He sees why nothing will work like it’s supposed to. He finds all the possible obstacles first, and that’s where he dwells. I’ve heard some say there’s a third category, the Realist. I think that’s generally the cop-out of a pessimist who won’t admit he is one.
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
…………Winston Churchill
Obviously, everyone has a little bit of both of those characteristics. Which one of these we let define our general attitude, has a great influence on how well we do in life. For most of us, it’s an ongoing struggle between the two. It’s much easier to be a pessimist. It’s also easier to find friends in this group. The question is, can you have a successful life as a pessimist? By success, I mean can you set goals, and actually follow through to achieve them with a pessimistic attitude? The odds are greatly stacked against you.
Basically:
Being optimistic can, however, be taken to extremes that are just stupid. We’ve all seen these folks. You know the ones that say things like “there are no such things as problems, just opportunities”….yeah, get real. That’s not what I mean by being optimistic. I’m not talking about running around, spewing quotes that make all your friends and family roll their eyes at you. At the same time, are you the one that gives pessimistic advice? When someone you know has an idea, are you the one that tries to “bring them back to reality”? I’ve probably been guilty of that before.
Being optimistic is better for you and everyone around you. Negativity sucks the life blood out of everything. I know, because I work around a lot of people from both sides.
How would the people around you describe your personality and attitude? Do you look at the upside or the downside to most situations?
[...] other hand, this book is highly recommended by some high profile people. Maybe it’s all in how you look at it. Dave Ramsey has mentioned this book several times on the radio as one of his favorites, and Mr. [...]
it’s all wrong, being pessimistic is about believing things are most likely to go wrong, and thus, a strong pessimist will count on everything, thus has a more fail-safe plan then the optimist.
and of course, the optimist will become more bittered, as things turn out less wonderful then initially thought, while the pessimist is always amazed at how well things went.
I always believe in things to turn out for the worst, but when it’s over, I always find the good things that have come out of it.
when you want the best, prepare for the worst.
popo,
I respect your opinion, but disagree. In my opinion and experience, pessimism causes people to miss good opportunities and leads them to only focus on how bad they perceive things to be. That’s my opinion.
I think it depends on both the situation and the individual.
At my core, I’m pretty much a hard-core pessimist. Used to be an optimist, but got pretty disillusioned by life. Funny thing is, when the “change” happened, I started doing much, MUCH better in school (then, later college, jobs, etc.).
It went something a bit like this:
Optimistic me: “Things will be fine, I’m intelligent… I don’t need to study”
Pessimistic me: “Oh hell, I need to study or I’m gonna fail everything!!”
This, inevitably, lead to great success.
I didn’t act like a pessimist outwardly though. Funnily enough, I was a frickin’ comedian, and sunny as hell.
I’ve known other people who went from optimistic to pessimistic and turned out differently, though… like I said, I think it depends on the person/situation…
Optimism and Pessimism are just names people have given to different attidudes, and being in between the two is VERY possible. i think of myself as a realist/optimist, or a optimist/realist. btw my motto is Live To Win and to do so i need to
A. think that i am awesome and that other people are awesome two
B.be a realist as this is a vital part to successful thinking. the glass half full question is a perfect example. lets say you are in the desert, with 1000mls of water. you drink half of it, and you’re down to 500ml. in other words, there is just half a glass of water sitting on the table. but then again i would try and remain optimistic about me reaching a destination where there is civallisation, for obvious reasons.
The world spins in two circles. Once every so often, it switches thus changing the landscape forever. Once the optimist realizes reality, he will be a pessimist. Once the pessimist becomes happy, he will be a optimist. Depending on your own views, an optimist can be the very being of hope, happiness and delusion. The pessimist never lets out a single detail, thus, is very much attached to reality. Life, cruel as it is, is a happy one for optimist whilst the pessimist curses it and wishes he was never born. The reality sometimes is too harsh for us to see. If you imagine Optimists as the Yin and the Pessimists are the Yang, then it becomes much clearer (Just using the Yin/Yang as a example, makes the picture clearer, although I never believed in it). To be successful, you need both, and neither, depending on how you define success.
I personally, think it is IMPOSSIBLE to be only one of them(optimist/pessimist). It is like saying you all are pure and good, whilst the other is evil and tainted. If you believe in God, it is said in the Bible that God created opposites of everything.
There is no Shadow without the Light, There is no Light without the shadow.(if the latter one confuses you, think about it like this. If there is no Shadow, how would you define the light? Everything would be the same, white, and thus you have nothing) Often the Light brings destruction, and the shadow brings Justice. It’s all up to the person.
Being optimistic is a powerful way to go through life…..BUT only if you take action at the same time to allow that optimism to shine through. Laura, I love your comments on this subject…….that when you were optimistic, you just assumed everything would be fine without the need to take action. Then you switched to pessimism and made sure you got what you wanted by actually doing something to get it…..I think at heart you were still optimistic….and a little more pragmatic. :0)
The world spins in two circles. Once every so often, it switches thus changing the landscape forever. Once the optimist realizes reality, he will be a pessimist. Once the pessimist becomes happy, he will be a optimist. Depending on your own views, an optimist can be the very being of hope, happiness and delusion. The pessimist never lets out a single detail, thus, is very much attached to reality. Life, cruel as it is, is a happy one for optimist whilst the pessimist curses it and wishes he was never born. The reality sometimes is too harsh for us to see. If you imagine Optimists as the Yin and the Pessimists are the Yang, then it becomes much clearer (Just using the Yin/Yang as a example, makes the picture clearer, although I never believed in it). To be successful, you need both, and neither, depending on how you define success.
I personally, think it is IMPOSSIBLE to be only one of them(optimist/pessimist). It is like saying you all are pure and good, whilst the other is evil and tainted. If you believe in God, it is said in the Bible that God created opposites of everything.
There is no Shadow without the Light, There is no Light without the shadow.(if the latter one confuses you, think about it like this. If there is no Shadow, how would you define the light? Everything would be the same, white, and thus you have nothing) Often the Light brings destruction, and the shadow brings Justice. It’s all up to the person.
I’m a pessemist myself, and I agree with popo. I often expect the worst outcome, knowing that if that does occur, which is unlikely, I’m prepared for it. And if it goes better then it’s a nice surprise.
Also, being realistic isn’t a cop-out. This is a REAL world we live in, so be realistic. I want music lessons, but I know I don’t have the money, so I’m realistic and realise it’s not possible, deal with it, and look for other possibilities.
And maybe pessimism does lower the mood of others, but that’s just the way I am. If others don’t like it they can stay away from me, I’m not interested. For those that agree, or can live with it, they are usually the kind of people you can get on with.
Either way, it’s just what suits you, partly your upbringing and background and how you want to perceive your life.
The Secret (2006 film) will back up that pessimist will more likely to succeed, because if you believe in something, it will more likely to be real/come true
I agree with Livetowin that there is optimist/realist, also pessimist/realist
I think being a realist is most important because like Laura ex.
Pessimist : “Oh hell, I need to study or I’m gonna fail everything!!”
-i think this is more realist/pessimist because you know u will not success if you don’t study
-A pure pessimist will say “i wont pass anyways, whats the point of studying”
Optimistic : “Things will be fine, I’m intelligent… I don’t need to study”
-that’s more pure optimist
-a realistic/optimistic will think “to success i need to study”
I try to an optimist as much as possible and not get to pessimistic and look on the black side of life. I think if for example if you took to much notice of the media and the daily newspapers regarding crime in British society you wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning and go outside your own door. Of course you must be circumspect to a degree and look after yourself in today’s society. But you can always find danger in whatever you do in life i think. You can always say what if .but that can stop you doing things in life that you may enjoy. I go to a sports centre and have joined an over 50′s group we do many activities which get’s you to meet others and keep yourself active which is good i think. I have joined a theatrical workshop for the over 50′s and i really enjoy myself interacting with others once a week for 2 hours. When i told a friend she said why do you want to do that do you want to go on the stage at 62 years old. I said no i don’t want to go on the stage we don’t put plays on, it is a workshop, and she said be careful when going to your keep fit classes at your age you may fall over as if i had one foot in the grave. Of course that can happen i know but this kind of negative utterances you don’t need. I do not consider myself old and past it, and i am enjoying my retirement and hopefully will be able to for a long time to come.