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"Optimism is knowing that despite the challenges you face, whether it be personal or professional, that you have the confidence to come out winning!"
Geoff Surtees told me what made him optimistic when I asked.
True optimists and realistic optimists do not ignore challenges, the awful stuff, or pretend that negative feelings and experiences do not exist. The true optimist acknowledges those challenges and says, "I can work through those!"
What makes you optimistic?
Some Other Insights into Optimism and Challenge
Professor Jan Blacher wrote, "It's in the face of stress when optimism really becomes important. A mom that has a high level of optimism is going to be able to better weather stress and be better prepared mentally for the challenges ahead."
Professor Martin Seligman said, “The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. The optimists believe defeat is not their fault: Circumstances, bad luck, or other people brought it about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder.”
Jeff Kerr-Bell told me, "Successful strategy cannot exist without optimism! Strategy is the act of navigating through challenges towards something better and you cannot envision or define better without being optimistic that it indeed exists! Therefore, no optimism =no strategy!"
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