Research by a psychologist at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh indicates that optimists handle stress better than pessimists do. They found that optimists tend to respond to disappointments by formulating a plan of action and asking other people for help and advice, while pessimists often react to such difficulties by trying to forget the whole thing and assume there is nothing they can do to change their circumstances.

Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? The most successful among us are usually optimists. Successful people often credit a positive attitude as a major reason for their success. As Winston Churchill put it, “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.”

Get infected

McGinnis calls truly optimistic people “tough-minded optimists.”

Being optimistic will help you maintain your enthusiasm and your forward momentum even in the face of disappointments and setbacks. You can literally catch the disease of optimism from consistently exposing yourself to the right germs of thought. Being optimistic and enthusiastic, like measles, mumps and the common cold, is highly contagious. You can infect others with your optimism and they can infect you. Stay around optimistic people and you will become more optimistic.

Best-selling author and therapist Alan Loy McGinnis, in his book The Power of Optimism, gives 12 characteristics of optimists:

* Optimists are seldom surprised by trouble.
* Optimists do not look for partial solutions.
* Optimists believe they have control over their futures and are not just victims of circumstances.
* Optimists interrupt their negative trains of thought.
* Optimists heighten their powers of appreciation.
* Optimists use their imaginations to rehearse success.
* Optimists are cheerful even when they cannot be happy.
* Optimists believe they have an almost unlimited capacity for stretching.
* Optimists build lots of love into their lives.
* Optimists like to swap good news.
* Optimists accept what cannot be changed.
* And optimists usually allow for regular physical and mental renewal.

How about you, do these character traits fit your approach to life? All of us can become more positive and optimistic by learning to develop these traits. McGinnis says:

“These tough-minded optimists may be of average intelligence and looks, but they know how to keep themselves motivated, and they approach their problems with a can-do philosophy. They are experts at building a strong, positive esprit de corps in their family or on their team, and they emerge from tragedies somehow stronger and more attractive.

“There is no doubt that this mind-set enables people to rise to the top of their fields. Recent studies show that optimists excel in school, have better health, make more money, establish long and happy marriages, stay connected to their children, and perhaps even live longer” (The Power Of Optimism, p. 1).

McGinnis points out that anyone can learn to be more optimistic by developing the habits of thought that optimists employ. He explains that this is not being “Pollyanna, hear-no-evil-see-no-evil types either… There is a soft-headed type of thinking that masquerades as optimism, but it is quite different from the practical approach that brings success” (ibid., pp. 6-7).

Tough-minded optimist

McGinnis calls truly optimistic people “tough-minded optimists.” A good example was Winston Churchill. In February 1901, young Winston, slim and elegant at 26, rose to make his inaugural speech in the House of Commons. This was to be his stage for the next 50 years, and on it he was to receive almost constant criticism and suffer many humiliating defeats. In those early years he was probably the most hated man in the House of Commons. The Blenheim Rat, his foes called him.

Thirty-eight years later, when Great Britain was on the verge of collapse from Adolf Hitler’s assaults, King George VI asked Churchill to form a new government. By then he was 65, the oldest head of state in Europe. The crusty tough-minded politician had lived too long and had too many battle scars to put on a false smile or to talk in unrealistic, glowing, Pollyanna terms about the future that lay ahead for his people. Yet his speeches reinforced his tough-minded optimism. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat,” became the famous realist’s words in his first address as prime minister from the House of Commons to his countrymen that Sunday night in May 1940. Laced with this blunt realism was an undaunted optimistic spirit and a belief that the dispirited and ill-equipped British nation could control its destiny and be victorious in the end.

He closed with this unrelenting optimistic vision: “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival” (The Last Lion, William Manchester, p. 678).

Churchill infected an entire nation with his optimistic, can-do attitude and led them to victory in the face of unbelievable odds.

Optimism quotient

How optimistic or pessimistic are you? Lowell Peacock summarized the importance of being optimistic. “Attitude is the first quality that marks the successful man. If he has a positive attitude and is a positive thinker, who likes challenges and difficult situations, then he has half his success achieved. On the other hand, if he is a negative thinker who is narrow-minded and refuses to accept new ideas and has a defeatist attitude, he hasn’t got a chance.”

Take time to notice your attitude during the day. Are your thoughts positive and optimistic or down and pessimistic?

On a scale of one to 10, what is your optimism quotient? Take time to notice your attitude during the day. Are your thoughts positive and optimistic or down and pessimistic? If we are not careful, it is easy to become pessimistic and cynical. You can be a realist and still remain an optimist if you learn to control your thoughts, heart and mind (Proverbs 4:23).

Pessimistic people bring you down; optimistic people lift you up. President Lincoln once said, “The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity and the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” If someone asks you how are you doing and you actually tell them things are terrible, people are not going to want to be around you. Optimistic people are almost never “poor me,” self-pitying people.

Seek God’s help

God holds us personally responsible to do the best we can with what we have to work with in the way of circumstances, natural abilities and opportunities (Ephesians 6:8; Revelation 20:15). If we become overly pessimistic and defeatist in our attitude, we can derail our success.

When we know there is a higher purpose for our lives, we can remain more optimistic and positive. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

God wants us to put on a new attitude filled with faith, hope and positive actions (Ephesians 4:22-24). The apostle Paul admonishes us to remain positive and optimistic in our focus (Philippians 4:8).

Jesus Christ set the perfect example, which we should emulate (Philippians 2:5). He was never arrogant, egocentric or intellectually vain and often taught His disciples to avoid these mental traps (Matthew 20:26-27; 23:6-8, 10-12). He was not pessimistic or defeatist even when facing severe trials (Mark 14:36-42).

Catch the disease of optimism and never let it go.