Whether you are a positive or negative thinker is beside the point. The question is, are you using your outlook to achieve the outcomes you desire? Here’s how, whether you are a cloudy pessimist or a sunny optimist, you can be effective or ineffective.
- Ineffective pessimist — You believe that whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and are so focused on defining problems that there is virtually no thought given to coming up with potential solutions.
- Effective pessimist — You believe that whatever can go wrong will go wrong, so you prepare for every contingency, coming up with solutions for each potential problem.
- Ineffective optimist — You believe that things will turn out for the best, so you never even consider the possibility of problems along the way, and are totally unprepared when you are derailed.
- Effective optimist — You believe that things will turn out for the best, and are prepared for and even relish the challenges you’ll encounter along the way.
