A mentalist’s guide to being happy

Optimism is absolutely a double-edged sword. It can keep you motivated during difficult tasks, make you a better&#x2F;more positive teammate, and encourage you to look for the better ways of doing things that optimists, by definition, believe to exist.<p>On the other hand, it&#x27;s also the reason behind most of my missed deadlines (&quot;Oh yeah I can do that in a week, no problem&quot;), burnout (&quot;I&#x27;ve got nights and weekends, I can take on this project&quot;), and disappointing&#x2F;unrealistic projections (&quot;I don&#x27;t want to slow myself down with research, I KNOW people are going to love this product&quot;).<p>In my previous role, I was paired up with a developer whose natural tendencies were to pessimistically look upon each new feature request like a minefield. Having someone to negate the negative aspects of my optimism was a godsend, and we had one of the most productive working relationships I&#x27;ve ever had. I would unfairly get a lot of the credit for my positive, can-do attitude, but I&#x27;ve never forgotten the benefits of having a healthy dose of skepticism on a team, nor the absolute havoc that an unchecked optimist (like myself) can cause.

I&#x27;m sure it can be. But right now, I DGAF. I&#x27;m tired of all the negativity and pessimism, and would welcome a big ole healthy dose of optimism from somewhere. Here lately it seems like everywhere you turn it&#x27;s just somebody screaming about how bad things are and complaining about something.<p>And yeah, the world we live in <i>is</i> pretty fucked up in plenty of regards. But not in every regard. And while I don&#x27;t advocate going full-on nihilist, there&#x27;s something to be said for striving for a little balance, and embracing a little bit of that &quot;screw it, let&#x27;s just dance, drink, listen to music, fuck, do drugs, and have some FUN while we&#x27;re here&quot; mindset.<p>I&#x27;m reminded of a line from the Motley Crue movie, where Vince Neil says &quot;I&#x27;m sick and tired of not having any fun!&quot;<p>Life is for the living... let&#x27;s have some optimism, and have some fun. We can save the manatees, fix the environment, etc., without being a bunch of miserable sodding wankers in the process.

Well sure, if you&#x27;re blindly optimistic, you&#x27;ll have problems.<p>The thing about optimism is that if you believe there is a solution, you&#x27;ll keep working until you find it. If you&#x27;re pessimistic, you&#x27;re more likely to give up if there solution isn&#x27;t obvious. Successful people are often optimistic because it&#x27;s useful.<p>Don&#x27;t assume that everything will work out, assume that there are solutions to every problem you face. Even when there aren&#x27;t solutions, searching gives far more meaning to life than complacency.<p>There&#x27;s certainly value in stoicism, but I think optimism results in the best quality of life. Which you choose should be based on your personality and what brings you satisfaction (contentedness vs achievement).

Frankl in Man&#x27;s search for meaning writes that in Nazi concentration camps &quot;Some men lost all hope, but it was the incorrigible optimists who were the most irritating companions.&quot;<p>Seems like acc to Dr. Frankl incorrigible pessimists are better companions than incorrigible optimists.

If you want to really dive into hope&#x2F;optimism you should read Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy&#x27;s entry about Hope[1].<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plato.stanford.edu&#x2F;entries&#x2F;hope&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plato.stanford.edu&#x2F;entries&#x2F;hope&#x2F;</a>

Stoic ideas have completely changed how I look at the world. Anxiety has plummeted. Interesting to see someone I admire espousing such thinking. I seriously doubt it&#x27;ll get any traction in the current climate.

This is succinctly mentioned in Vedic Philosophy - Do your actions as a offering, be detached from results of your action, live a life of purpose. The battlefield discourse of Bhagavad Gita by Stephen Mitchell is a good intro. Stoicists will find many good nuggets in the Yoga of Action discourse.

I heard this a while ago:- An eternal optimist is someone who while falling from a 50 floor building, when he reaches the 30th floor thinks I still have 29 more floors to go.<p>Optimism combined with incorporating feedback from brutally honest people works for me.

&gt; radical new approach<p>&gt; Stoicism<p>Uhm.

&gt; <i>Most self-help books would suggest that you can fight life’s currents with determination and positive thinking.</i><p>What the..‽ Show me one. Just one.

There is never anything wrong with being relentlessly optimistic&#x2F;positive because not reaching your optimistic&#x2F;positive objectives never matters!<p>Note: I did not read the article.