Descriptive vs. prescriptive optimism
“Optimism early, pessimism in the middle, optimism late.
Your starting position has to be somewhat optimistic or you’ll talk yourself out of getting started. Believing in what you are about to do does not guarantee success, but a lack of belief can prevent it.
Once you’ve committed, pessimism becomes useful. Question things. Find holes in your plan.... See more
Your starting position has to be somewhat optimistic or you’ll talk yourself out of getting started. Believing in what you are about to do does not guarantee success, but a lack of belief can prevent it.
Once you’ve committed, pessimism becomes useful. Question things. Find holes in your plan.... See more
3-2-1 Thursday newsletter - James Clear • 3-2-1: How to Have Healthy Relationships, Optimism vs Pessimism, and the Power of Forgiveness
Perhaps there is a way through pessimism that leads to an adapted and more reasonable optimism—not the sort of delusional optimism that is ignorant to the somber truths of our condition, but rather, an optimism that exists in spite of it all.
Robert Pantano • The Art of Living a Meaningless Existence: Ideas from Philosophy That Change the Way You Think
To give up on life entirely would be like refusing to play a game because we lose sometimes, as if the game would even be worth playing if we knew we were going to win every time we played. There is courage in facing the realities of pessimism and there is strength to be formed in its name. We must be pessimistic about life’s conditions in order to
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