There is a recent study done by some academics at Yale and Duke Universities that underscores the importance of optimism and having an upbeat attitude. This isn't some cliche driven motivational mumbo, delivered by one of the preachers-of-jack-you-up, it's a look at how those with optimism seem to do measureably better in work and in life. You can find the full report here.
This should come as no surprise for those of who have worked with pessimists, doomsayers and other "nattering nabobs of negativism". But the research is finally comfirming what most of us already knew, that a negative point of view on life depleats the inventory of good energy to go around. That's not exactly how these researchers put it, but it is the point.
So what to do about the energy vampires that walk amongst us in daylight? The only thing I can do is affect the change in my own behavior and my own view of things. I have a several friends who believe our world is going to hell in a handbasket and that we are living in deep crap times. It seems that even if the news is good, there is something lurking underneath, something bad! When I tell them I don't find the world so horrible, they accuse me of being pollyanna or of putting my head in the sand. They say things like "Well, you have never had it bad...you've never had to struggle.." Laughable..if they only knew.
Look, we need optimistic energy to build new things, to run our companies, to get things done and to get us around the bend. Pessimists will continue to wring their hands and worry over everything. But those of us who thrive on vital, exciting, natural, human energy, have to continue to embrace the idea that tomorrow could be better than today, and if things get dark, eventually the skies will clear. It usually works that way in my experience. When I start to believe that everything is a bummer, oddly, everything becomes a bummer!
Life is amazing, remarkable, beautiful and messy enough. Why not keep yourself surrounded by optimists, the true believers, those that understand the seasons, that the sun will eventually burn through the clouds, and that every day we are alive we have work to do, a world to tend to, people to love, and...at least for me, a dog that needs to go out for a walk. Damn...ain't that just perfect!
