YOU ARE BOTH

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

The person who perseveres will get to the end of this seemingly never ending road, the obstinate one, who refuses to begin, won't.

The optimist or the pessimist?

We are all both at different times, our success or failure determined by how much of each, how often.

THINGS ARE GOOD, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND . . .

"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist knows it."

Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) American nuclear physicist.

Which one, the optimist or the pessimist, do you think is the realist?

Your answer says a lot about which you are.

TOO MUCH OF EITHER IS A BAD THING

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British politician

We have the choice to be one or the other although we don't always see our options as choices.

They are.

Choose consciously.

I IMAGINE THAT . . .

"My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened."

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

16th century French philosopher, essayist

More than in the past we do this regarding the future.

Be pessimistic if you must but if it prevents you from acting, you have a serious problem.

You

 

IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT

"One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Late 19th/early 20th century British journalist, novelist and poet

Very little in life is "always" true, this included.

However recalling this during difficult times may help.

Neither Bad Nor Good

"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle."

Walt Whitman

19th century American poet

Yes, if you let them be so.

If you learn as much from the bad times as you enjoy the good.

What Else You Got?

"With coarse rice to eat, water to drink, and my bent arm for a pillow--I have still joy in the midst of all these things."

Confucius

5th century BC Chinese philosopher

I have to believe that positive attitude is a decided advantage when dealing with severe business problems.

What do you think?

Being Up When You're Down

"The test of success is not what you do when you are on top.  It's how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

General George S. Patton

20th century US Army General

Suggested by Business Wisdom reader Ron Hixon

There are many variations of this all saying essentially the same thing.

It's easy to be positive when things are going well, tough when they're not.

How are you in both situations?

Enjoyable Misfortune

"It is remarkable how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion.  Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men."

Eric Hoffer

20th century American philosopher

Is it easier to believe bad as opposed to good?

Do we more enjoy hearing or imagining the worst than we do the best?

How Sad Is That?

"There is nothing sadder than a young pessimist."

Mark Twain

19th century American humorist

I don't know about that.

There's not much joyful about an old one either.

There Are Two Ways To Look At It

"My sun sets to rise again."

Robert Browning

19th century British poet

The more common reference to optimism, "my glass is half full."

Why did your sun go down?

In The Moment, But Which Moment?

"The Future; that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured."

Ambrose Bierce

Late 19th century American writer

Thinking about my business life I believe I have too often looked back fondly on what has been, or eagerly to what will be, in contrast to simply being happy with what is.

What about you?

Do You Build Or Destroy?

"People are eternally divided into two classes, the believer, builder and praiser, and the unbeliever, destroyer and critic."

John Ruskin

19th century English art critic

I don't know about only two classes and particularly so with these two greatly polarized opposites, but I do get the general idea.

However, given his profession as a critic, it does make me wonder which class Mr. Ruskin saw himself belonging to.

How about you?  Which are you?

The Power of Attitude

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind."

William James

19th century American psychologist

And it is likely that many of you have no idea how important this fact is when it comes to business.

There are many things you cannot change but your attitude shouldn't be one of them.

You And Your Company: One And The Same?

"Positive anything is better than negative nothing."

Elbert Hubbard

Late 19th century American editor/publisher

What do you think?

"Anything" and "nothing" seems a bit too absolute to me, as if there is no place for negative thinking.

Regardless, how does a manager balance their own tendency to be optimistic or pessimistic, with the need to do whatever is best for their company?

Is it acceptable to project our personalities into the actions we take on behalf of the companies we work for?

If Not Positive, What Then?

"I am an optimist, it does not seem much use being anything else."

Winston Churchill

I am also naturally an optimist and probably like this as a result.  But I also think it is generally true.

Do you?

The Role of Attitude

"Many an optimist has become rich buying out a pessimist."

Robert G. Allen
Author/Speaker Regarding Real Estate Wealth

And to be fair, many others didn't.

It's not just your outlook is it? Timing also plays a role.

But attitude is where it starts. If you anticipate failure, you're halfway there.

The Future: When You Know . . . It No Longer Is

"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next."

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
Author

Like it or not, relatively little is known for certain and nothing we "know" is forever, and in that there is opportunity.

Are you focused on what you don't know or what you soon will?

The answer suggests a lot about your future.

Attitude: Finding the Silver Lining

"Being pushed to the wall, gives you the momentum you need to get over it."

Written and contributed by Peter de Jager
Speaker/Writer/Consultant

I can think of times when seemingly insurmountable obstacles turned out to be on pathways to new success. If I had accepted them as insurmountable, they would have been.

As General O.P. Smith said in 1950 at Chosin Reservoir, Korea . . .

"Retreat hell! We're attacking in a different direction!"

Perspective: The Rose or Its Thorns?

"The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose."

Kahil Gibran
Lebanese American Poet, Writer, Philosopher, Theologian

The Dow hovers near a 10 year low, the news is filled with stories about layoffs and bankruptcies, so what "rose" is there to look at?

We are in an economic "system reset" with much about to be very different in comparison to the past.

Different but not dead.

There is great opportunity for those who see the possibilities, as much if not more than they do the problems.

What do you see?