The Dark Side of Positive Thinking: Why Optimism Isn’t Always Good for You

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” - Carl Sagan

You may have heard that an optimistic person can get different insights in life you will have a happy life and different things about the positive sides of optimism have been told to you by everyone but is optimism as much good as it is portrayed? Just search "Optimism" on google and thousands if not millions of articles and quotes pop up saying the good sides of optimism.

Optimism

Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. The term comes from the Latin optimum, meaning "best". Optimism was introduced by the polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to describe what he likes to say "best of all possible worlds" the thesis that the existing world is the best world that God could have created. Leibniz’s argument for the doctrine of the best of all possible worlds, now commonly called Leibnizian optimism, is presented in its fullest form in his work Théodicée (1710; Theodicy), which was devoted to defending the justness of God. Given the period of Leibniz, the existence of God was accepted in scientific communities too mainly because we didn't have other possible reasons for evolution until Darwin came up with his "On the Origin of Species" in 1859 A.D. which is also known as Darwinism.

The Problem

If optimism is about hoping that the outcome may be positive or favorable then what's the problem? The problem is not about optimism the problem is the more optimistic people. When people tend to be more optimistic than they should be problems rise, and they start to put less effort into the work they are doing. It can lead to complacency, a lack of preparedness, and a failure to acknowledge and address potential risks and challenges. People underestimate the possibility of negative outcomes and try their best to stay on the positive side rather than challenge their beliefs and be prepared for both types of outcomes this can lead to a poor decision-making process. A person should be skeptical in the process of decision-making. The more a person makes the habit of optimism the more chance is that he/she cannot calculate all the necessary factors that are required to be taken in the decision-making process. While optimism can be a helpful mindset for achieving goals and persevering through challenges, it can also lead to unrealistic expectations. People tend to be more Optimism Biased. They are seen to have unrealistic expectations of reality. Optimism can also lead to slow actions which may result in several consequences depending on the authority you have.  We have plenty of examples where optimism has caused many problems like the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis. If we look even more we may see the problem caused by optimism in different elections.

The solution

The solution to the problem caused by optimism is simple and hard for many people at the same time.

The solution is practice. Practice seeing the bad effects of your action. Practice tackling the spotlight effect. Practice taking other's opinions on the topic. Practice changing.