Optimism vs Positivity.
Do you understand the difference between the two? And how do you see yourself - are you one, the other, or both?
I’m a naturally optimistic person. I've always bought into the idea that it’s better to think positively and believe that things will work out for the best, rather than be pessimistic and wait to be proven wrong. But what I’ve come to understand is that positivity and optimism aren’t synonymous. They are, in my view, actually quite different.
Positivity is often naive - we’re encouraged to think things will work out for the best just because we want them to, or we don’t want to entertain the idea that they won't. Optimism, however, is not naivete; it’s more than just belief that things will work out for the best.
Optimism is both hope and confidence in the ability to achieve a desired future.
Optimism applies to equally the successful outcome of a meeting in 2 hours or retiring to a tropical island 30 years from now. It's a cornerstone of purpose, too- our ability to achieve our unique positive impact requires us to be able to have hope and confidence that we can achieve it.
While there’s an element of truth to the old Henry Ford saying “whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right”, positive thinking on it’s own isn’t a recipe for success.
Perhaps these are some classic cases of misplaced optimism?
The key to optimism is agency - our capacity to actively and independently affect change.
You must have hope in the future and the confidence to be able to achieve it; a confidence based in knowing you have, or can get, what it takes to be successful.
Without that sense of agency, without being equipped to achieve the future we imagine, we’re often left disappointed and unfulfilled or worse - cynical.
Next time you’re imagining the future you want to see, ask yourself :
Are you both hopeful and confident that you can achieve it?
If you lack either, what do you need to raise your level of confidence and hopefulness?
What do you need - whether it’s resources, knowledge, authority, skills or something else - to give you the sense of agency to achieve your desired outcome?
And importantly, because we’re all about purpose and having a positive impact on others, if you see people around you lacking in genuine optimism, consider this. Instead of giving them a pep talk or encouraging them to think positively, what can you do to increase their sense of agency? It might be nothing - perhaps just a kind word to increase their sense of hope is all you can give.
But by considering what you can do to increase their agency, and doing what you can, you’re more likely to be helpful than not.
Whether it’s your individual plans for the future, the strategic direction for your business, or our collective hopes for society, the more we focus on genuine optimism rather than positive thinking, the more we ensure people have both hope and what they need to participate, is how we’ll realise the change we want to see.
