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| What ‘One Thing’ Is Holding You Back? |
How important is it really to be a diehard optimist? Isn’t it true that you can’t be positive about everything and that sometimes you have to just face reality?
This is a very interesting question because it gives a hint as to the importance of being an optimistic thinker instead of a pessimistic thinker.
The Question: Who Is More Realistic?
You might have heard the saying: “We don’t see the world as it really is, we see it as we are.”
Whenever you are describing your view of the world, whether you’re being optimistic or pessimistic, you’re not describing the world as it really is - you’re describing the world as you see it.
So who is more realistic, the optimist or the pessimist? The answer is that both of them are creating their view of reality according to how they think.
This view of reality is influencing their beliefs, their actions and the results in their life.
The question isn’t whether the optimist or the pessimist is more realistic; the question is what kind of life do you want to live?
Shape Your World
If you take on an optimistic view of the world and are always looking for possibilities to learn, grow and achieve what you want, that view of the world will shape your beliefs and your actions.
Naturally, this will lead to actions which will help you make the most of every opportunity to learn, grow and achieve.
You could also take on the pessimistic point of view and see failures and negative circumstances as things to run from instead of as things to learn from and grow through.
You can see the pessimistic side and see nothing but hindrances instead of possibilities. It’s all in how you process it.
If you’re convinced of why it’s so important to become a diehard optimist, let’s look at some solid strategies for developing a persistently optimistic mindset.
Three Steps to Diehard Optimism
1. Look for Chances to Learn
Opportunities to learn are everywhere if you know where to look for them.
For example, every failure presents an opportunity to learn and so does every negative circumstance which comes into your life.
Learning from these circumstances will keep you from repeating the same mistakes over and over and will help you to achieve the second principle of becoming a diehard optimist.
2. Look for Chances to Grow
Growth is not an option in life, it’s a certainty. The only question is whether you’re growing into someone with a strong character or someone whose life is governed by fear and uncertainty.
The world around you is constantly changing and you must continue to grow and adapt with it.
If you look at everything as an opportunity to learn, you can take what you learn and put it into practice to make yourself a better person.
The other option is to learn nothing or to take a pessimistic view and allow yourself to grow into someone who is fearful and timid.
The motivational speaker Les Brown once said that who you become in life is more important than what you do or what you achieve.
This speaks of the importance of growth and development of character, which is only possible if you treat everything as a learning experience and opportunity for growth.
3. Look for Chances to Achieve
Besides learning and growing, achievement is one of the most rewarding things which you can experience in life.
As long as you focus on treating things as opportunities to learn and grow, achievement will always come as a natural result.
As this happens, your learning and growth will continue and you will achieve much and inspire others.
TIP: Write these three steps to diehard optimism down on a notecard and carry them with you everywhere you go.
Make them a consistent practice in your life until being optimistic becomes an unstoppable subconscious habit.
