High Price of Pessimism

PESSIMISTS ACHIEVE LESS. Why should be bother to learn to think optimistically? Isn’t pessimism just a posture with no real effects?  Unfortunately not. I have studied pessimism for the last twenty years, and in more than one thousand studies, involving more than half a million children and adults, pessimistic people do worse than optimistic people in three ways: First, they get depressed much more often. Second, they achieve less at school, on the job, and on the playing field-- much less than their talents would suggest.  Third, their physical health is worse than that of optimists. So holding a pessimistic theory of the world may be the mark of sophistication, but it is a costly one.

 -Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman

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