by Brian Tracy

by Brian Tracy

There are three basic differences in the reactions of optimists and
pessimists.
• The first difference is that the optimist sees a setback as temporary,
while the pessimist sees it as permanent. The optimist sees an unfortunate event, such as an order that falls through or a sales call
that fails, as a temporary event, something that is limited in time
and that has no real impact on the future. The pessimist, on the
other hand, sees negative events as permanent, as part of life and
destiny.
• The second difference between the optimist and the pessimist is
that the optimist sees difficulties as specific, while the pessimist
sees them as pervasive. This means that when things go wrong for
the optimist, he looks at the event as an isolated incident largely
disconnected from other things that are going on in his life.
• The third difference between optimists and pessimists is that optimists see events as external, while pessimists interpret events as
personal. When things go wrong, the optimist will tend to see the
setback as resulting from external factors over which one has little
control.
We are a program of optimists.
We see setbacks as temporary.
We see difficulties as isolated incidents and are disconnected
   from the rest of our life.
When things go wrong we see events as external over which we  
   have little control.