Hello again
So today I wanna share with you a little secret... I am a pessimist, and I guess I don't really "hate" optimists since that's a really strong word. I'm more annoyed by how they're always going on and on with their endless positivity -
“Oh, don’t worry about it! I’m sure these things will sort themselves out!”
“You didn’t get through your second round of interviews? I’m sure your next one will go well!”
“Your first business crashed and burned, and you lost your wife in the process? It’s ok, at least you had a good experience and your wife will come back sooner or later.”
So here's the defintion of an optimist, according to the dictionary -
I really dislike the word "hope", I think nothing ever really comes out of it. This is pretty accurate, though. Most optimists are unbearably full of hope.
I get a lot flak for being a pessimist, but I feel like pessimism has helped me out so much more than optimism ever will, and in this post I will explain why.
A case study on Nokia
Everyone should know what happened to Nokia by now. Well, for those who don't know, they were bought over by Microsoft, and it was during an emotional press conference where Steve Ballmer ended his discourse by saying –
“We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow we lost”
I have nothing against Nokia, in fact I was a huge fan of their phones when I was a kid. You'd think that they would always be a face in the mobile phone market with how big of a foothold they had back then. But that's what happens when you're too optimistic.
Nokia was optimistic in thinking that their competitors wouldn’t innovate faster, better, and stronger than them. They failed to adapt, and ended up paying the ultimate price.
Now, many of you would argue that this isn’t optimism, but plain complacency or incompetence, and I personally don’t think that Nokia is or was an incompetent company. They might have been positioned well with a good head-start to take over the mobile market, but it still takes a lot to make it that far and solidify that big of a foothold in any industry.
That leaves us with complacency, and the way I see it, optimism is complacency. What else do you call closing your eyes to all reason and hoping for the best? When you have the monopoly in any market, and you think that what you’re doing now will always be good enough for the future, you are being optimistic.
When your competitor launches a brand new revolutionary product, and you laugh it off, you are being optimistic.
No matter how ridiculous the concept of the iPhone might have seemed back then. Did Nokia prepare themselves for the worst case scenario?
Obviously not. If Nokia was prepared, they wouldn’t be where they are today.
Being a pessimist allows you more room to make preparations, because you are always seeing the worst case, you are always asking questions.
You’re never thinking that things would “work themselves out”, because you know that’s the stupidest shit you have ever heard people say.
Ever heard of Murphy's Law? Shit happens. Make sure you're prepared for it.
The pessimist in me
Take it from me. Here's what I've gained from the pessimistic side of myself over the years -
- Never be disappointed again. By assuming that shit happens all the time, when it really does go down, you will take it like a champ.
- When things do go your way, you’ll be extra happy about it. Think... having kids. If your kids turn out to be normal instead of little crazy shitheads, that's something you can be extra happy about.
- Pessimism enables preparation. But who are we kidding here? Just by assuming things will go wrong doesn’t do anything if you don’t take any action to preparing your plan B or C. You need to anticipate and formulate contingency plans.
- It’s easy for you to capitalize on your failures. Since failure comes more naturally to you. Instead of thinking that it was “just bad luck”, or simply hoping that “next time will be better”, you actually accept your failures and figure out what went wrong so you can make improvements.
I’m not saying that you should be a downer and go around telling people that they are going to fail all the time. What's the matter with you, why would anyone do that? Goodness, I wouldn’t have any friends if I did that.
My point is...
You should be more objective when thinking about any outcome, instead of harboring blind hope for future outcomes. Anticipate problems and challenges, while also preparing for those situations.
Ending off
That's it for today's post! I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you guys like it. As always, if you disagree, feel free to call me a stupid cunt in the comments. It's an open forum.
And remember, the next time your friend tells you that your interview failed because the lady interviewing you was on her period, you tell him to shut the fuck up, and start looking for ways you can improve your interview game.
-
Oh, and I joined a thing since my last post. If you're a newbie like me, it's a chill place to hang out so feel free to join!
Awww man. I am so an optimist. But I am an active and very VERY determined optimist. I think the misconception, is in general, that optimism means complacency. IMO thats an extreme version of optimism....Like not all Christians are involved in the KKK....Or all muslims are extremists....
There is a point where anything becomes a choice to better yourself or remain complement where you are. <3
you are right! i am mostly going on about the extremes. still, it can be annoying sometimes to deal with optimists and the things they say.
thanks for the feedback!
haha I know right! There is definitely no such thing as 'just sitting back and waiting' for shit to happen. Gotta get some movement happening to get the magic flowing! <3
This post received a 47% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @nnnhhh! For more information, click here!
You have very interesting posts! Topics that challenge readers to think... as a side note, i just learned that NOKIA was founded in 1865. That was very long ago, older than many countries in the world!
thank you! i try my best to share my musings/experience gained throughout the years. it sounds like i'm really old when i say that, though :p
and yeah, i remember my first mobile phone was a nokia 3310 hahaha
hahaha yea nostalgic! and Motorola flip phones! now mostly replaced by iphone and samsung. Actually it'd be fun to go out with the old nokia 3310 again, imagine hearing the classic ringtone! and playing some snake game lol
you wouldn't be able to beat my high score on snake, i was a beast at that game!!
I personally think that being full on pessimist is the wrong way, truth be told. Sometimes the confidence in your actions that comes along with optimism makes things happen, which further fuel your belief that good things do often happen.
i agree, it's important to be confident and good things definitely do happen, but my point of this post is to say that you should never sit back and hope for things to get better. you should never assume that things will turn out well, because based on experience, they don't. being prepared for bad outcomes helps a lot in these situations.
thanks for the feedback shibedoge!
Quoting your post:
"When your competitor launches a brand new revolutionary product, and you laugh it off, you are being optimistic."
This is just being ignorant, not optimistic. An optimist would rather think: "So they released a new revolutionary product? I am sure, if we try, we can overcome them with a even better, more revolutionary one."
I think the difference is pretty big.
Thanks for feedback on my feedback!!!!!!!
i disagree, but let's leave it at this. thanks for your comments :)
Pessimism is your enemy, especially here on Steemit
Let optimism fuel your drive to succeed here
You CAN do it and you WILL
pessimism is a great tool if you use it properly
thanks for the feedback!
In what way?
i mentioned this in the middle section of my post
of course you did, very sorry....(hangs head in shame)
don't worry about it :)
nice, my upvote gives 0.01 now!!!!!!
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