Almost Every Successful Person Begins With Two Beliefs

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“Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs… The future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so.”

The level of your positivity for the future is a major determining factor to your success. As cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky put it, “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”

Who doesn’t like optimistic people? They’re a lot more fun to be around because they’re genuinely happier! Apparently, success and even luck are also attracted to this happy bunch. Over the years, studies on optimism have shown that optimists make more money. In one research by Dr. Seligman, it was found that optimistic salespeople sold 80% more than the most pessimistic ones! Furthermore, it also indicated that agents from the most optimistic quarter were three times less likely to quit than agents from the least optimistic quarter.

However to be a successful optimist, you should also have the clear-eyed perspective of pessimists. That is, you’re still in touch with reality. According to a research by organizational psychology researcher Sophia Chou, realistic optimists may get the best of both worlds by using realism to identify problems but aren’t getting bogged down by them. Balance is still the key.

One of the reasons why success favors optimists is because they never run out of options. Unlike pessimists, they view problems as temporary hurdles. Without excessive anxiety that plagues pessimists, optimists have a clearer view of the situation, thus they see solutions! And if they don’t find one, they make one.