The importance of optimism

[Shiroi Tora]

This is off one of my Blog pages...my latest actually. It is important to teach, and guide your children to conquer challenges. Through his victories (start small), he will realize optimism.


Drive is THE most important variable in success. Optimism not only gives direction but is the progenitor of drive. Drive is the result of a realization of the possibility of success in an endeavor or the chasing of a passion in life, both of which are seen as an objective on the horizon...because of optimism.

The following is from a one of my threads in a forum, it helps illustrate my point:

My thread:

With optimism and drive, you can accomplish anything. The optimism allows you to see forward and opens hope - your goal becomes apparent. Drive allows you to overcome all odds to achieve your goal.

Pessimism is more akin to being a fatalist (no power to change your fate). Anyone who realizes that one's future is written by one's actions, is not a pessimist. You have the power to change your future...that much is plain. You can change your health through healthful eating (of course, up to your genetic potential...), exercise, and sound sleep. Your mental state ( barring off kilter physical variables- a product of genetics - how much and in what ratios your neurotransmitters/hormones are in), can be altered somewhat,often times to a healthy degree, through plentiful exercise, healthful diet, plentiful deep sleep, and by attitude. Your economic potential is raised by educating yourself so you may be more marketable, or even better, by creating your own business...etc. The capability to alter your course is undeniable.

The way I see it:

A pessimist is a cork at the mercy of the tides. It is safe as you have no expectations of yourself. To know that you are the captain of your ship, able to buck the tides of fate through your helmsmanship, takes effort, but offers freedom. The effort is a result of drive. The drive is derived from passion. To have passion, you must be able to see an end result, or at least a clear knowledge that the path taken is the correct one. To have a clear vision of the future, coupled with the knowledge that it is reachable through your efforts, is optimism. Your ship is powered by the winds of passion, and steered by applied intelligence. The stronger your passion, the fuller your sails, and so, the faster you shall go. The more efficient your plan for the future, the more efficient the path the ship shall take. Both speed up the transit. With both in place, you may also take time to enjoy the clouds, seabirds, and the sunsets as you effectively move toward your goal. You have a firm knowledge that you are moving steadily forward, and so, your life is in perspective. Little things don't bother you (for long), and you may enjoy the process. That is the key to mental health fitness. The more you advance, the easier life becomes, and the richer the experiences. There are no dark clouds on the immediate horizon, and you have the knowledge that, with your solidly built ship, you could weather any storm.

Any one that has experienced life, already knows the feeling of winning, of accomplishment. You already know that it can be achieved through effort. Don't concentrate on your deficits. Concentrate on your strengths. Focus on a task and fully master it. Once you realize this, you are on the way to mastering anything you truly desire. You can outwork your competitors. Drive is THE most important component in success. You are compelled to practice your craft far beyond the limits of those with less passion. Through repetition, you will master. Through mastery, you shall find success. Nothing drives success more than success. Once you know you can master something, you know, with enough applied effort, you can master anything. Life becomes thoroughly enjoyable. You will realize the energy and strength of the gods, which in turn, allows you to drive on further and faster. That is being on a Positive Spiral. Life becomes easier and more enjoyable the higher up you go.

Looking at the whole picture and weighing and measuring the probabilities of negative outcomes is rational thinking (realist). To be a realist with expanded horizons, is an optimist. To not do something out of fear of possible negative consequences is pessimism - besides being plain stupid. NO - all of you self proclaimed pessimists are not stupid...it is just...you are not pessimists.

I think the key is in the preparation. Optimism, to me, is not a consciously applied state of mind...but a realization...a foregone conclusion...if you have prepared yourself. You know the direction you must travel. You prepare the supplies necessary, pace yourself so you may walk at the highest sustained rate until completion of the journey. You will have done all that you could have done...you know that you will reach your destination...it then becomes a matter of when. The more effort applied...the faster the rate of travel. You are in control.

Optimism is a result of knowing what you are facing...adequately preparing yourself to win...and never quitting. You can conquer the more intelligent...the more advantaged in some way...by outworking them.


Optimism doesn't mean not being realistic. It means to stretch your horizons to areas beyond where you dare not tread due to the comfort of the known. It means to prepare yourself to venture into the untraveled to achieve your goal.

I think the confusion comes from people thinking to be optimistic is to be reckless. No...it is to dream....to lay out an efficient path to the realization to that dream....to keep that dream alive amid a sea of pessimists and naysayers...to not allow self sabotage....TO NEVER QUIT until your dream is realized.

THE MOST IMPORTANT VARIABLE IN SUCCESS IS DRIVE. If you want it badly enough...you will do anything to achieve it. Narrow your interests down to a realistic goal...take care of one thing at a time...build success upon success. Optimism is a natural result...you have knowledge, forever more, that you can do that which you most want to do.

Optimism gives you the dream...the vision of your goal.

Objective Reasoning allows you to lay out the most efficient path to that goal.

Drive gives you the energy of the gods to see that goal to fruition....to never stop...to never look back...to never quit.

Give your child one of the great keys to happiness in life...with optimism...borne of the successful conquering of true challenges...he will take care of everything else.

 

[Krazie243]

Haha! I have a debate buddy methinks!

Sorry dood but ima have to go ahead and disagree with you on your entire premise. While I think your conclusion works well with your premise, I think that the critical assupmtions you are making are invalid:

Optimism and Pessimism are opposites on a scale. The best analogy to describe the two in conflict is the glass with water in it. Is it half full or half empty? This is a false dichotomy to begin with, but it takes a Realist to realize it. There are other options - the glass contains 50% water and 50% atmosphere. It is technically completely full, but also completely empty depending on whether we are referring to matter, space, water, atmosphere or anything else.

The problem with both Pessimists and Optimists is that they are both deluded. They do not look at all the possibilities. One looks at the good possibilities while the other looks at the bad. But being void of the ability to see all possibilities they inevitably miss some of the possibilities that are within their own spectrum of sight. For example, a Pessimist could easily fail to consider if the water is even cold. A true Pessimist would worry that the water is sour and warm in addition to not even filling the glass. A true Optimist should consider the option that the water is cold and refreshing and without bad taste. But neither Optimists nor Pessimists look past the obvious - there is water in the glass.

I think that to truly overcome life and own reality we must first cast aside bias and learn to accept all things as they are and try to imagine all perspectives within our ability to imagine, as well as ask others for their perceptions. By discovering reality in as great amount as we are capable, we are then able to determine what the best and worst case situations are, and even have the opportunity to guide or steer them towards the ones we want.

Causation and correlation are not the same thing, but they can both be used as tools to slowly navigate reality into a preferred outcome. Thus, rather than simply 'hoping' for the best, we can aim at it. Think of it like this: You have a gun and there is a target down range. A Pessimist thinks they have no aim and pulls the trigger expecting nothing. An Optimist thinks they are likely to get really close if they try hard. They pull the trigger and expect a good outcome. A Realist considers their lack of experience, considers the weight of the gun, the distance, the metallic grooves used to sight the target and calculates the statistical odds of hitting the target.

Being an Optimist might be fun, and might lead to good things, but those things are out of control and could easily turn upside down at the drop of a hat. A Realist is always prepared for the unexpected and is not easily jarred by a sudden crisis. Among Realists there are Positive Realists and Negative Realists. Each should be pretty self explanatory. Ideally a person should be a Realist who sees all the best and worst and everything inbetween and directs their focus and effort on the positive.

And thus concludes my assault on your well put philisophical idea on Optimism =)

 

[Shiroi Tora]

Ok...I do hear what you are saying. I think you and I think alike...except on the terms of the words. Your realist is similar to my optimist...except mine is better!

Think of it this way...A realist will weigh all variables and mentally calculate the odds of success to the cost of failure. The optimist does the same...but as his optimism is borne of experience...he knows himself more...he knows his capability to outwork his competitors will greatly increase his odds. He is more of a known variable to himself. The realist would, say, not risk anything over a 50% "chance of failure". The optimist knows that he can tolerate a higher degree of risk as he can mitigate the future circumstances with his drive. He knows the calculation of risk does not include his drive. The realist gives up before reaching his full potential because the risk to benefit ratio is too high. The optimist achieves great things because he perseveres where others dare not tread....Realists already have in their mind the point to quit...Optimists only quit when defeat is certain regardless of their effort...and then only when to go on would make things much worse.

The Realist must take the external variables....The Optimist considers himself to be a strong known variable...he knows himself....he appears to be reckless to others because they cannot gauge his drive.

The Realist must approximate his future performance....The Optimist KNOWS himself enough to accurately gauge his future performance. The Realist is just one great success away from being an Optimist.

 

[Krazie243]

I think your definition of Realist is vastly different from mine. You say that an Optimist knows themselves better than a Realist, but a true Realist knows waaaaay more about themselves than any Optimist ever could. Optimists tend to rely on faith, not knowledge. Whereas Realists rely on knowledge and calculations and nearly discard faith. So while they may both have the same desires and goals, they seek them with completely different tools. That is why I differentiated between an optimistic Realist and a pessimistic Realist. The differentiation has to do with their habitual mood relative to their circumstances. I believe your perception of Optimist is more closely related to my concept of an optimistic Realist.

For the most part, a true Optimist (that is not even partly a Realist) is someone who is incredibly naive and gullible and will risk things that are waaaay more valuable than what could be gained even at a near 0% possible success rate. But while an optimistic Realist will not sacrifice nearly as much, they do not suffer the crushing results of major defeats. Basically, Optimists have higher highs, but lower lows. Realists are more stable. So it almost depends on whether or not you are willing to have life destroying pains as an accompanying result to the incredible pleasures (like sex with the STDs, lol)

You also mention that a Realist gives up before reaching their full potential, but Realists know what their full capacity is so this is simply not true (of course, we must acknowledge that this is true for true Realists who have researched themselves and aren't just 'claiming' to be Realists as a way to prevent being called Pessimists) For example, a person can tell me that I never achieved my peak performance at playing drums because I never fully submitted to the necessary personal changes I would need to be good at it. But as a Realist I already knew what maximum level I could reach and knew that the sacrifices were not worth the gains - even upon success. Thus I did not waste the effort. Instead I've done other things and succeeded in other ways.

The major problem with Optimists is that they are unstable and constantly changing. They are all over the place and while it may be fun for them, they are not really predictable most times and things can go from great to horrible in seconds. Realists can approach success without the serious risks of defeat. So while their pleasures are smaller than Optimists, their pains are non-proportional. On a value scale, Realists win by having minimal pains.

 

[Shiroi Tora]

Touche Krazie243....very well argued. Your reasoning is unassailable. My definition of an optimist was for the best case scenario of Optimist. I should have defined it more like your Optimistic Realist....that is what I had in mind. I shall amend my future posts on this subject and I shall incorporate your definition of an Optimistic Realist into what I mean as an Optimist...it is more accurate....it is still an Optimist because in no way do I mean irresponsible, I shall make allowance for the blend.

Well done Krazie243. I bow to your argument...and I shall amend my ways... :thumbsup:

 

[Krazie243]

My head is bigger than the moon right now =) and I've got one of those 5yr old smiles that could cheer up a room full of adults =)
(I'm not used to people admitting defeat in such an honest way)

By the way, I noticed you start a lot of threads on philisophical ideas (good vs bad, optimism, etc) and I'm wondering if you've taken any philosophy courses?

Also, I have a really good friend that one day presented me with a hilarious idea that we decided to take on a little, perhaps I'll make a new thread for it. It's about Narcissism. Yes, I capitalized the word on purpose. =)

 

[Krazie243]

Come to my topic: HERE =)

 

[Shiroi Tora]

Good for you :thumbsup: You deserve to feel good. You did a very good job explaining yourself.

I have taken Philosophy...however, I operate on good old country common sense. I have observed people throughout life in a variety of situations which have stripped them of their facades. You get to truly see the nature of we humans in such situations....the good and the bad. Our basic Philosophy determines the general direction of travel in life. It is a way of life that a person incorporates as shown in his actions or inactions.

I would very much like to read your future posts. You and I are very much alike in thought I think. Take care brother.