Understanding Why Optimism Can Be Just as Bad as Pessimism
Optimist almost always put a positive spin on their expectations for the future. Pessimists are constantly thinking of why things won’t work out.
I love the optimistic, “glass half-full” perspective on life. Even when things look bad, feel bad, and continues to trend in a bad direction, I always tend to believe that optimism is still better than pessimism. However, this belief is not always helpful. While optimism may never be worse than pessimism, it can be just as bad as pessimism.
To understand why look no further than the historical account of Admiral James B. Stockdale. Admiral Stockdale is known for surviving a brutal 7 1/2-year POW experience during the Vietnam war. During this experience, he along with roughly 400 other soldiers faced torture regularly. Many soldiers died because of this experience.
In the famous Jim Collins book Good to Great, Collins interviews Stockdale about this experience and gets an eye opening response from him about why some soldiers didn’t survive. Collins writes:
Who didn’t make it out?
“The optimists… they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart”
The lesson in this story as Collins tells it is that optimism can’t change the facts of your current situation. Moreover, if you have no control over your current situation, it only does you harm to be optimistic about things changing. Instead of being optimistic about your situation changing due to the luck of outside forces, be optimistic about your ability to change your mindset to make the most of your situation.
As Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote nearly 2000 years ago:
You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
In short, being optimistic about things you don’t control is just as bad as being a pessimist. Avoid both mindsets and you will be better off for it.