“Optimism is not a strategy” and “Optimism is naïve” are two pushbacks many people have about optimism. In particular business people. In general, people like the feeling of being optimistic, but for many, optimism is a fuzzy and rosy construct that is unrelated to business.
Also, there is a misconception about optimism being about “think positive, and good things will happen”. I can’t even count how many times I have been confronted with Paulo Coelho’s famous sentence: “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
In reality, building optimism is a process, which we can train and become better at mastering.
This article explores 4 elements of optimism in a simple and practical way. My objective is to help demystify “optimism”, and enable you to find shortcuts to build your own optimism more easily.
Optimism as an expectation.
This is the element most people are aware of. At its core, it is an outlook on the future through a positive lens, expecting good things to happen. Many people around us have an inherent positive outlook on the future, and they can appear to be living their life effortlessly. They worry less, and have different coping mechanisms when they face challenge and adversity.
But in fact, people often utilize other building blocks of optimism, that enable them to have these positive expectations. Let’s look into the three most significant ones in the following:
Flexible optimism.
To a degree, optimism is a choice. Optimists skilfully assess the challenge they face and do split-second probability calculations. This (often intuitive) calculation of odds enables people to choose flexibly between an optimistic or pessimistic inner reasoning, and to take their decisions accordingly.
Alas, these calculations can of course be erroneous and lead to flawed decisions. Or the dynamics of the situation can change. But that does not change the fact, that mosts optimists are not just expecting good things to happen, they actually do the math before they jump.
Realistic optimism.
Optimists also assess their own resources and abilities, and map these with the challenge ahead. This enables them to develop an intuitive understanding if they realistically can master the challenge. They literally get a “feel” for if they can do it or not, before they jump.
For sure, optimists can err here too. Their heightened sense of psychological ownership and belief in own abilities, may lead them to overestimate their resources, and seduce them to take flawed decisions. However, instead of playing it safe, there is actually a very important benefit in thinking optimistically. When we are optimistic, we are constructive. We look for ways to make things work, instead of preventing disaster. We prepare ourselves to take action, not to hide. This optimistic preparation can help us to deal with both a positive and negative scenario, whereas a pessimistic approach only prepares us for things going wrong.
Inner narrative and our own role.
At their heart, people who are optimistic see and explain the world in a way that differs from pessimists. Optimists take ownership of what happens, and they in particular are quick to “take credit” for the positive things happening, and expect the positive reality to continue. They externalize the negative events and are less harsh on themselves when things go wrong. Pessimists and optimists see the world, and explain their role in it, in fundamentally different ways.
A practical example.
I will use myself as an example here, as I am not an automatic optimist. The “think positive” approach does not work for me, as it feels unrealistic and hollow. Like jumping to the top step of a staircase. Instead, I need to build my optimism step-by-step.
Step 1. is to assess the situation, and visualise the goal and potential obstacles. This enables me to flexibly choose between an optimistic or a more cautious approach.
Then, in Step 2, I focus on aligning my resources to the challenge, enabling me to figure out if I have a fighting chance or not.
In Step 3, I strategize and plan in detail, and take full responsibility of my approach. Now I really start to feel “Yeah, I will do it”, and my narrative automatically turns more optimistic.
Because I did my homework in the three previous steps, I can in step 4 build a solid positive inner narrative, grounded in my sense of ownership, realism and flexibility. Now I feel empowered, instead of faking my optimism.
Over time, when you ascend this stairway often enough, it becomes a habit - just like ascending a real stairway.
For sure, there is more to optimism than what you have read in this article. But for a start, I hope that the short explanations and example can help you to find your own new ways to build your level of optimism when you need it.
If you are interested in the science behing optimism and the other elements of psychological capital, read more in the research of Luthans, Avey, Avolio, Bandura et al.
Please feel free to reach out if you have questions, or want to know more about how to build psychological capital in your team or organization. What you have read it in this article, is part of the “Building Psychological Capital” leadership development program we run for companies in Asia and Europe.
Yours,
Henrik