The Key Difference Between How Optimist and Pessimist Face Failure
Today I came across a insightful book passage comparing how optimist and pessimist face failure. I found it as I was working my way through Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking book on emotional intelligence titled Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.
Goleman states:
People who are optimistic see a failure as due to something that can be changed so that they can succeed next time around, while pessimists take the blame for failure, ascribing it to some lasting characteristic they are helpless to change.
These differing explanations have profound implications for how people respond to life.
For example, in reaction to a disappointment such as being turned down for a job, optimists tend to respond actively and hopefully, by formulating a plan of action…or seeking out help and advice; they see the setback as something that can be remedied.
Pessimist, by contrast, react to such setbacks by assuming there is nothing they can do to make things better the next time, and so do nothing about the problem; they see the setback as due to some personal deficit that will always plague them.