Whats an optimist and whats a pessimist? to put it simply it refers the optimist to someone that will say that the glass is half full vice versa but in truth, its isnt as straightforward as that!
Optimist generally enjoy far more in life than Pessimists .. however,a better point for pessimists is that it does bring about a doze of realism to you ..
Just an simple example on something that many would have heard before..
the doctor often says "always stay positive" when one is stricken with bad health, not because he wants to console you but because it will really aid ur health and psychological well being.. Being an optimist will actually help you enjoy better health..
Optimists tend to enjoy/achieve more in life hmm ::read this analogical situation
imagine u are working in a phone company, and u are supposed to call people to coax them to sign up are product that you are recruited to "push"
after which his first 10 phone calls ended up in failure, the pessimist gave up and mop about it saying (" does the problem lies with my talking skills?..oh shit i suxs") putting all the blame on himself, and stopped trying.
However in the optimist case, being a more positive thinker, he would just brush it aside and keep calling and finally he will get his 1st deal on his maybe 22th call and become motivated .
wheras for the pessimist if he managed to get a deal on the 22th call he will ask himself why did i take till the 22th call to get my 1st deal done?
::make sense right?
To all pessimists out there,heres a catch.. like EQ ,your cognitive thinking can also be adapted and changed, to shape a better outlook on your life =D
for a start,maybe you could thinking positively to stuffs that will not cause a big effect to your life even if u are wrong, and do not make permanent assumptions to negative things (i'll explain it below)..
like eg,instead of thinking about why is my friend 30 minutes late, why the hell is he late again? does he take me as a friend ? does he take me for granted? etc and let it affect ur mood, before showing a "sour" face when u get to see him ruining the whole meeting..
why not think about maybe my friend is caught up in somethings? maybe its just that he have bad timekeeping? wouldnt it be better to do that?
if you try thinking in this way you dun actually lose much right?
Pessimist are people who give up easily as they believes that the cause of the bad events are permanent
eg. For someone fat who failed again in his second attempt at slimming might tell himself " i will always be fat so forget it and from now on i am going to start eating anything that i can get and dun care about myself"
but if u believe that effects are not permanent, u will try thinking of it like i am fat, but i really believe that i can be thin if i want . its just that i do not want to at this moment..
another example..
an optimist,instead of conceding defeat after a 10 day slimming camp when u broke the curfew and munched on food on the 8th day, you will instead think of working back harder.. whereas for the pessimist ,he will tend to just give up completely on dieting..
hopefully that this post will remind myself to stay positive, especially since i am studying business
didnt try this before but its a scientifically validated Optimism/Pessmism test .. for those whom are interested (tell me ur results =X) http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=709