Balanced Optimism & Assessment of Uncertainties

Have we ever wondered, why setbacks don't leave us alone even after putting tremendous efforts for anything that we have wanted badly? The answer to this question might not be just one but many and heterogeneous in nature as well.

Let's talk about an underrated yet a relevant perspective - Are we being too optimistic?

When we become determined to follow our passion or try to achieve a goal that lies a little ahead of our abilities, saying "Hello, Good Morning!" to failures becomes a routine affair. Many bow down before their fate with merely the first encounter with failure while a few face it strictly and prepare themselves for a fresh start.

That first encounter with failure is the first filter that life puts on us and segregate the better ones aside for the next test. "Optimism" and "Perseverance", in my opinion, are the two key terms that those people share among themselves to a larger extent. And in the later stages of the journey, life test these two parameters even more thoroughly depending upon how much and what kind of stakes your passion or goal seeks and demands for.

For sure, optimism has to be the mandatory attribute in our arsenal to trod the different curves of failures. But in what way and how far we need to push that? The best category of optimistic people knows about it quite well and before embarking the journey, they combine optimism with at least a roughly calculated possibility. They are well prepared and equipped with different flexible plans when the plan at hand fails, keeping in mind and staying positive for their end goals.

Being too rigid towards adopting different plans because being optimistic means "stay-positive-and-one-day-it-has-to-work" is certainly not a good strategy. Many stick to one thing with high hopes without assessing the extent of uncertainties involved in it and regret losing a period of time that could have been made a little more productive.

The better way is to stay positive at a broader level and assess the extent of certainty for the success of the plans lined up before even starting. Thinking less about failure of the plan is also important since it might demotivate us but avoiding ourselves to be prepared for it might not be a good idea since it costs us a vital entity - Time.

Why not build a parallel track for the journey with similar set of plans but different levels of possibilities?

The intriguing part about success is that its apex seems objective from the ground but when we reach the sublimity, we have had experienced its true and subjective nature, and that allows us to place the flag wherever we want and still we would call it the summit.