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Optimism and Pessimism are Self-Fulfilling

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Optimism and pessimism are self-fulfilling - glass half full
Image by Derek Robinson from Pixabay

Optimism and pessimism are self-fulfilling.

Think about how you see the world.

Are things generally improving, or going to hell in a handbasket?

And how do you see your own life?

Do you expect good things or bad things?

Whichever one you expect will tend to come true.

Psychology and action

This isn’t about the mystical, metaphysical, or Law of Attraction.

Optimism and pessimism are self-fulfilling because beliefs affect your actions, which change your results.

Optimists behave in ways that bring good results.

Achieving good results then makes them more optimistic, which leads to more good results.

Optimism is both self-fulfilling and self-reinforcing.

The same is true of pessimism.

Pessimists take actions that make bad results happen, which reinforces their pessimism in a vicious cycle.

Optimism and pessimism are self-fulfilling in dating

Take dating as an example.

We all know that bitter perpetually single person.… Read more

Celebrate progress instead of focusing on distance from your goals

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Recently a friend of mine said to me, “When you review your progress, there are two ways to look at your results: glass is getting fuller, or glass is getting less empty.”

For example, if you are trying to lose weight, you can see things as “I’ve lost seven pounds,” or you can see them as “I still need to lose eighteen pounds to reach my goal weight.”

Or you can compare yourself to 500 kg.

I think this is a great distinction. The first way of looking at things, where you celebrate your progress, is the much healthier and productive attitude.

When you focus on how far you have to go, things can become overwhelming. It’s tempting to say, “What’s the point?” What you do today can seem like a drop in the bucket. The entire time you spend working toward your goal is time you spend feeling inferior, because you haven’t reached your definition of success yet.… Read more