Tag Archives: optimism

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Get Excited, it is a choice

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It is not unusual to encounter periods of great uncertainty during your life. Things that we do not recognize, are unfamiliar to us, or outside the scope of our knowledge exist for everyone.

Our perspective, that is how we view the unknown, is critical to personal well being.  Allowing the unknown to create fear and anxiety is common and often the default path.

Take Control

For me what is coming, even though I don’t know what will happen is always best viewed optimistically.  The sense of foreboding is of my own creation and it is just as easy and more productive to focus on a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness (it is your choice).

We may not know what is coming in our futures, and we can easily visualize the worst.  I am not sure why the genetic predilection is toward pessimism when it comes to the unknown but my general observation, that is often the case.

Why not be excited.  Probably because this does require the ability to view the future as an opportunity and typically takes effort.  Excitement though is a much more pleasant and empowering approach.   It is well worth the effort.

Make it Real

Focusing on positive outcomes, even when factors outside of your control exist, also makes it more likely to occur.  That is not to say if you wish for something it will happen but if you don’t even consider the possibility, chance takes over.

Uncertainty is really an opportunity to get excited about the future by taking charge.  Plan to make your desires become reality.  Of course, you might not always succeed but neither will you always fail (unless of course, you don’t even try).

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Submit and Hope

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Relying on hope as your strategy will produce outcomes, good or bad, that are basically due to chance.  Without a plan of action or policy designed to achieve your goals, the results are in essence derived from happenstance.

While feelings of expectation and desire for certain things to occur is a valid emotion it is never the best approach to taking action and working to achieve your dreams.

Greater Uncertainty

For example, if your goal is to increase your fiscal wealth, purchasing a lottery ticket, submitting the numbers, and hoping for a windfall of cash is an option and sometimes it can pay off.

Basically, though this approach is based on chance.  How you choose your numbers, or how many you submit might affect the chances but overall this strategy is simply put – submit and hope.

Improve your chances

It has been well said, “Nothing is certain” but having a solid strategy increases the likelihood you will be able to achieve your desires.  Uncertainty still exists but can be diminished through planning.

Working out a set of actions to achieve your goals (e.g. increase your personal wealth) will not guarantee results but if formulated based on research, logical, and analysis the opportunity for success is increased.

Not to abandon hope

This is not to say that hope does not have value.  Hope underlies optimism and without it, life can be very depressing.  However, relying on hope alone is not a valid strategy if you truly seek to achieve success.

Do not abandon hope but also do not underpin your plans solely with hope.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Attitude

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Your personal behavior is largely driven by your attitude.  That is your core perspective, what you think and feel about things.  A positive attitude is can drive success.

By focusing on the positive, understanding and believing what you desire is within your grasp, you are more likely to attain altitude and soar. (Positive attitude will result in altitude).

You don’t need drugs or other artificial stimulants to get high.  The right attitude can take you there all on your own.

Perception Matters

The classic example of attitude is illustrated through the description of the glass that contains water to its mid-point.   Some respond the glass is half-empty (a pessimistic attitude). While others view the glass as half-full (an optimistic attitude).

To stretch the metaphor, our attitude toward the glass will influence our subsequent behavior.  The pessimistic view might lead you to sip the remaining contents slowly and drink them slowly over time.

The optimistic person will likely drink fully and quickly expecting additional supplies to arrive when needed.

With Caution

A positive attitude will most certainly include a dose of optimism.  Sometimes blindly believing in a positive outcome can be helpful but there is a risk optimism that could lead you to be careless and open to consequences.

A balance of appropriate caution well still believing positive results can be achieved is better than wild uncontrollable belief that you cannot fail.

A carefully tempered but largely positive attitude will always outweigh a negative and pessimistic approach but a small amount of doubt can be useful in preventing calamities.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Seeing Answers

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Our lives are a series of events.  We get to choose how to interact with, embrace or even ignore these occurrences.  And of course we can create them as well as just being a passenger along for the ride.

How you percieve the things that impact you, including those that are self initiated, is usually either optimistic or pessimistic or some balance of these two extremes.

Optimism

This is a preconceived belief in a successful outcome.  Your perspective focuses on solutions, that is sucessful outcomes.  What answer, when applied to this event will result in success.

Of coures this approach relies on your awareness of what answers support your goals and objectives.  Your own happiness and pleasure can be achieved only if you know what you seek (the answer).

Pessimism

Your perspective leans toward believing the worse will happen and your confidence in the future is low or non existant.  This is a choice that can reduce disappointment but it diminishes the opportunity for enjoyment and pleasure.

Positive Attitude

As commented in a recent post, attitude equals behaviour.  Your behaviour, ( how you act) defines you.  Simply put, a slight varience on the old saying “you are what you eat” becomes “you are what you do”.  This accurately depicts how others decide how to percieve us, it is based on behaviour.

Optimistic approaches to everything you encounter forces a positive attitude leading to exemplary behaviour and voila you are a star.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Optimism

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Optimism describes an attitude.  When you feel hopefulness and confidence about the future, your perspective is said to be optimistic.  Is this a sustainable perspective?

Personal attitude is yours to control.  Optimism can be a fabulous way to approach each day, why not.  By it very nature optimism is positive and associated with good feelings.

Approaching each day feeling good is not a bad thing.  Consistent and persisent optimism is positive so why not adopt this a a permanent attitude.?

Trouble on the horizon

When hiking you run into a bear.  Your optimistic attitude leads you not to react, after all everything will work out.  Although an exaggerated example, there probably are cases where optimisum should be temporarily suspended.

Proactively worrying or predicting negative attitudes (pessimism) is probably not a good replacement for an optimistic attitude but realistically recognizing  the potential for bad results is probably not a bad thing.

Attitude Drives Outcomes

Whatever your underlying perspective, for example positive, negative, worried or optimistic; the way you behave is directly impacted.

If you are feeling good your eaction is typically more positive than if you are worried or fearful.  This is a good argument to strive for an optimistic viewpoint as your go to attitude.

Believe and Succeed

Athletes and sale people are well familiar that visualizing and believing in sucess to come can be a significant driver of results.  So don’t just be hopeful but believe it will be good.

You can get what you wish for.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Fear and Hope

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The reaction to the results of the recent U.S. fascinate me.  I include mu own emotions in this analysis.  As Spock, the unemotional Vulcan from the fictional TV series Star Trek, would say -Fascinating.

Start withFear

In the run up to the election I was fearful that Trump would win.  Of course I was not alone in this with many news stories supported this.  And of course talk about flight to Canada as a safe haven.

Followed by Hope

The day after the election I found myself strongly feeling hopeful.  President elect Trumps post victory actions seemed positive.  My self talk focused on the thought “It’s going to be alright”

In fact it might even be better than that other candidate, what was her name again (Hilary something)?  These trade agreement changes and tax cuts could be a good idea.

These blatent optimism is not mine alone with many of my collegues espousing this approach.  This is all about living in the moment.

The electoral contest was up in the aircreating an unknown void filled by worry and fear.  (Actually a very common circumstances)

Remove the unknown and voila, hope and optimism abound.  The underlying facts become less important in the face of certainty.  Worry no more, the die is cast.

One Caution

“Don’t worry it’ll be fine” is a great sentiment.  Optimism and hope certainly are more likely to lead to good outcomes that fear and worry.

That being said, there is a risk of too much optimism allowing the bad to get worse.  Remember, optimistic or not, be on guard.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Accentuate the Positive

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Are they issues, challenges or opportunities.?  You can be relating a story to your friends, family or colleagues.  The same details could be presented by you as challenges you face, issues that are bugging you or opportunities for improvement.

The spin comes out in the way you tell the story.  The listeners filters kick in and they percieve your story as an issue , or opportunity or a challenge.  (Or perhaps they are just bored.)

Perspective Matters

The same set of facts can be used to send very different messages, with assocoated different results.  Additionally the interpretation will very, although inflenced by the presentation the recievers perspective has great impact on the interpretation.

Positive Spin/Negative Spin/ No Spin

As a general rule telling the story with an optomistic perspective gets better results.  A positive spin is more likely to not only position your audience  for a positive reaction, but truth be told, it makes you feel better as well.

Percieving the story as an issue or challenge can be daunting.  How we view a situation drives our subsequent behaviors.  Positive feelings are morelikely to be associated with positive reactions.

For Example

Here are three story summaries.  The event being described is the same in each case:

Issue

  • I was late for work and the boss yelled at me, boy is he insensitive

Challenge

  • Late for work today and the boss called me out on it, I need to find a way to avoid this

Opportunity

  • The boss set me straight about being late for work and I am going to prove this was just a one off.

So think about how you want to tell the story, the way you tell it can impact the outcomes very differently, including how others view you and how you view yourself.