Positivity

[Ms Erica Phoenix]

I have been reflecting a lot lately about being positive, or optimistic, or however you'd like to phrase it. Just after I left my last 9-5 job, a former coworker told me that I was the most negative person he had ever met. I was really taken aback, because I really honestly did believe that I am a terminal Pollyanna, always looking on the bright side of life (dee dee, dee dee dee dee dee dee whistles Eric Idle in the background...) My response to him was that he was meeting me during one of the most negative times in my life, under very negative circumstances, and that he obviously did not know me as well as he thought.

This week, I have met some really lovely gentlemen whose company I have greatly enjoyed, and I have some long term repeat clients whose time with me I anticipate a great deal (what can I say? I enjoy what I do and I take great pride and pleasure in doing it well!) I think I have had virtually identical conversations with 4 or 5 people this week all along these same lines. Without getting too New Age-y, hippie dippie trippie about it, I really believe that the energy you put out into the world is what you get back. I like to laugh, I like to have fun, and I like to get naked and pleasure and BE pleasured; on a really good day I get to do all of those at once!

So, after the long semi-self promoting ramble there, here is my question; do you consider yourself an optimist, a pessimist, a pragmatist or a realist? To put it another way;

Is the glass half full, half empty, or is the perception of full/empty determined by the volume of water and size of the glass?

 

[*emmanuelle]

I was listening to an Ideas episode about optimism the other day, and they made a good point about the whole "glass half full/empty" thing.

Basically, while the "glass-half-full" people might be more fun/pleasurable to spend time with, these people likely won't do anything to improve a given situation, because they're already happy with their half glass and don't see it as a problem that the other half is missing.

The "glass-half-empty" people, on the other hand, can be a bummer to be around, but because they're looking at the situation and thinking "hey wait, things could be better than this!", they're the ones who are more likely to solve a problem / fix an unfair situation / improve the general state of affairs.

TL;DR: Optimists end up with a shitty situation, Pessimists make shitty a situation better

So I thought that was interesting.

You can listen to/download the episode here:
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2012/08/31/a-question-of-optimism-1/

 

[VanessaofBC]

While I agree with the idea of staying positive, I like how Emmy (T-Bone) breaks it down. This thought comes to mind...

edit: Here's another good one!!!

 

[uncleg]

This thought coimes to mind...

..........you broke PERB, I'm positive no matter what Mod says.............What's coimes ?

 

[Ms Erica Phoenix]

T-Bone?!?

I am a pessimistic pragmatist. How's that for being vague?

I expect shit to go wrong and do everything in my power to mitigate it so shit is held to a minimum. When it all goes right I am ... usually amazed ... lol ... but ... it rarely does.

I'm an optimistic pragmatist; when shit goes wrong, I hope it's just a trickle, not a landslide. I try to wake up every morning glad to be on the right side of the dirt, and thankful for the same when I go to sleep, and usually, I am!

 

[here4fun]

I consider myself a pragmatist, I try to be positive and project that when dealing with people. Sure it does not work all the time. Guess the volume of water and size of the glass does matter

 

[Ms Erica Phoenix]

Excellent. I guess that makes me an optimistic realist! Angela, I agree with you too...I like to leave people in a better mood than when I first encounter them whenever possible...unless they REALLY piss me off!

 

[cherise]

i am a reverse optimist.....i prepare for the worst so i can never be disappointed ;only happy that i was prepared or that things didn't turn out as bad as they could have

 

[Ms Erica Phoenix]

i am a reverse optimist.....i prepare for the worst so i can never be disappointed ;only happy that i was prepared or that things didn't turn out as bad as they could have

That's a great way to look at it!

 

[1nitestan]

optimist - glass half full
pessimist - glass half empty

Pragmatist - orders another drink so it'll arrive when he finishes the current glass

 

[Ms Erica Phoenix]

LOL 1nitestan! Winner! :clap2:

 

[odonnell]

It's easy to be optimistic when things are going well, but you can be unreasonably optimistic too which results in more disappointment. Reasonable is the key to staying realistic about things. More important to be realistic than optimistic I think.

 

[OldMagpye]

Me be negative at work(Yup one of those). The rest is all up. Balance is important so spend da neg at work.

 

[PlayfulAlex]

I choose to be positive and be kind, generous and a nicer person in general, believe me its not always easy, and I wasn't like this in the beginning as many members can attest to that fact:roll eyes:

In fact, yours was a positive transformation of epic proportions, Miss AA...you deserve to be enormously proud of yourself!

 

[PlayfulAlex]

While this thread isn't exactly about business success, that is one component of a successful life. So I share this here, as the various successful people interviewed do mention positive expectation as a key factor in their success: