Since I write about personal development and investing, you might be surprised to learn that I’m a pessimist at heart. The pull of pessimism is so strong that I had to force me to adopt an optimistic outlook on life. An optimist, on the other hand, has a more pessimistic outlook on life. Philosophically, an optimist is someone who believes that good will eventually triumph over evil and that our world is on the right path.
The opposite is true of a pessimist. If you believe evil is always victorious, you are a pessimist. We’re going to go extinct soon enough.
People, in my opinion, aren’t all in or all out. As a general rule, most people are prone to both optimism and pessimism. When it comes to technology or the climate, many people have a very pessimistic outlook. When it comes to green energy or the ability to educate others through social media, the same people may be optimistic.
Fight Club, a novel and film about anarchy and defiance of authority, was a teen favourite. I recognised myself in Chuck Palahniuk’s worldview as soon as I saw it. For example, he talked about not giving a damn about what other people think or say or do, making your own plans, and having no fear of destruction. It’s a gruesome tale, to say the least. In part, this resemblance to reality is what draws so many people to dark stories like Fight Club.
You’ll find evil if you search for it.
Humanity’s past is littered with wars, famines, oppression, violence, injustice, and torture. Everything we are is a product of it. Our forefathers were depraved human beings. If you believe that the world is a bad place, you won’t have a hard time finding evidence of it. Many people continue to suffer throughout the world. But here’s the kicker: Less pain is being experienced than there was a century ago. Things aren’t quite as they should be, but they are a step in the right direction. Certainly not all of it. Optimism can be found in even the tiniest of gains. The number of people who are born optimists is unknown, but I’m going to assume it’s more than twice as high as that of those who are born pessimists. It’s also possible that your upbringing plays a role. When I was a child of first-generation immigrants and grew up in poverty, I was no doubt more pessimistic. When things get tough, it’s easy to get sucked into a downward spiral. In the face of adversity, it’s difficult to believe that things could be better. You must have a compelling reason to rethink your entire perspective on life.
Improve your life by being optimistic.Â
The hope for a better future is one of those reasons. Proof comes in the form of real-life examples of people who rose from obscurity to prominence. Having a good life is possible. You can learn new things. Getting rich is possible. However, you must have faith that things are moving in the right direction. You must have a positive outlook for the future, as many investors would have you believe. The fact that Warren Buffett is so successful is not due solely to his stock-picking prowess. As a stock picker, he’s excellent, but what sets him apart is that he’s optimistic and patient, traits that few people possess. For the majority of his (almost) 80-year investing career, Buffett has remained upbeat while others have screamed “fire” and warned the world of major crashes and secular bear markets. Since he became famous around the world in the 1990s, he’s repeatedly said, “Never bet against America. “During Berkshire Hathaway’s 2020 annual shareholders meeting (at a time when the global Covid pandemic was at its peak), he repeated the same message. To begin, Buffett gushed about how great things were that happened during the meeting: “In 231 years, no one could have imagined that the United States would have 280 million people, planes flying at 40,000 feet, and world-class healthcare systems in the next three lifetimes. “Everything has gone above and beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.”
It’s clear that optimists have a different outlook on life.
An optimistic long-term investor is a successful one. If this is the case, what’s the point of investing in real estate? When you have a positive outlook on life, your actions change. The future is bright, so you invest in your education, your health, and your investments in the stock market. There is a growing sense of urgency to keep up with the times. Everything about the way of life has changed. And, if I’m being completely honest, over the last six years, I’ve begun to shift my viewpoint. Optimism didn’t take root in my heart until about 2020. We’ve seen many crises in the last 20 years, including wars, financial collapse, and a global pandemic. It has been a roller coaster of a ride for humans, but they have persevered. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see that we’re going to keep getting better.
