“The glass is half full!”
“No, the glass is half empty!’
We’ve all heard this traditional method of determining if a person is an optimist or a pessimist, but is it true and can someone who is pessimistic become optimistic?
Author Price Pritchett challenges these traditional facts in his easy-to-read book, Hard Optimism. Pritchett explains that our minds are our greatest assets in jobs and in life. We control the attitudes that come from our minds.
Everyone is negative at times, but Pritchett gives steps to counteract and change thinking from pessimism to optimism. Instead of thinking of problems, think of solutions. Instead of complaining, look for what is going right. Instead of criticizing, look for things to praise. Instead of commiserating, help your friends find resources or change the subject. Don’t make everything into catastrophic proportions. Break items down into steps that you can take to deal with them.
Identify times when you are negative. Things will go wrong but look at what is good about a situation or steps that you can take to change it. Problems can be a “stumbling block or a stepping stone.” We have the power to choose whether they leave us stronger or weaker through our attitude and actions.
As Pritchett points out, “Optimism is the attitude of champions. And it’s one of your keys to the good life.” Take an hour, read this book, and see if you can adopt the prescribed steps to become more optimistic.
