From the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road (Van Morrison)

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

I am a naturally optimistic, glass half full kind of guy. So much so, that it seems to exasperate some of my colleagues at times.

So I had to think hard when confronted by this piece of James Clear wisdom:

"Optimism early, pessimism in the middle, optimism late.

Your starting position has to be somewhat optimistic or you'll talk yourself out of getting started. Believing in what you are about to do does not guarantee success, but a lack of belief can prevent it.

Once you've committed, pessimism becomes useful. Question things. Find holes in your plan. Hold yourself to a high standard and try to identify your mistaken beliefs before they become your misplaced actions.

After you've spent some time troubleshooting, it's back to optimism again. Nothing will ever be perfect, but you have to act anyway. Progress requires the courage to forge ahead despite the inevitable obstacles."

It's that pessimism in the middle bit that I had to reflect upon long and hard.

I tend to rely on others to find the holes (work colleagues, my wife) because the holes don't naturally appear to me.

At our campus we are currently in the middle of a building project and my planning to move to the hall while that's happening was all about how to make things work, rather than what could go wrong.

We've successfully navigated a tricky start to that because we adjusted (yes, the ole pivot) as a team. Having a variety of different looks, including a real couple of pessimists on the team, really helped.

I'd struggle to do that myself, but with the help of others we find balance in the force.