Optimism Vs. Wishful Thinking

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to do anything at all, yet all your work showed up completed each day, in a neat, organized pile, ready for your manager or client to review?

Actually, no. That would be terrible. It seems like it would be wonderful, but the reality is that you need to experience struggle and tension to feel alive. There is no growth without tension. There is no gratification without challenge.

Optimism is a belief in a better possible future, knowing that it might require some work to achieve. Wishful thinking is lazy optimism that wants everything to just happen. Optimism is willing to put in the work, while wishful thinking wants to live with the delusion that things will just work out.

We need optimism to do creative work. Without it, we cannot take intuitive leaps. But we are still responsible for the work necessary to bring our vision into being.

Believe in a better possible future, then develop a plan to bring it about.

Optimism is creative fuel. Wishful thinking is lazy optimism.

QUESTION

Are you falling into the trap of wishful thinking? Where do you need a plan vs. a dream?