Optimism for the Win

How positive storytellers will win the future

It might be true that we’re more wired for danger than joy, but you aren’t a robot. You’re POSITIVELY better than your programming. That’s why you succeed.

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The Bright Side of Life

Recently I was talking to a friend.

“Did you see that Japanese plane on fire?” he asked.

“Yes, all 379 people got out alive,” I replied.

“And that plane whose emergency door blew out while in flight?” he said.

“Amazing how it landed safely and nobody was killed,” I answered.

“I hear a lot of people left the housing industry this year,” he tried.

“Some did,” I agreed. “And some had their best year ever.”

“You just never see the bad stuff,” he laughed. “Always the optimist!”

“I leave the negativity to the press,” I chuckled.

Making Optimism Work

This week I unsubscribed from a ton of online stuff. I muted political publications on Substack, uninstalled the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Google News apps from my phone and turned off notifications except for travel apps. Why?

Because they were letting too much pessimism creep in!

Being an optimist, like me, doesn’t happen naturally. It’s hard work. Constant vigilance against the belief that everything is broken, wrong, bad, etc. And since we’re wired to be worried by evolution, it takes a lot of energy to keep a positive attitude.

Over the years, I’ve tried different things.

Dr. Price Pritchett says in Hard Optimism, “Make a few simple changes in the way you think and you’ll have a lot more room for the ‘good news’ power of optimism.” Simply cutting off the pessimistic clutter on my screens leaves more space for me to optimistically solve problems.

Which Bar Would You Choose? © 2017 Matthew Ferrara

Does Optimism Really Work?

Just ask your phone. Five minutes after uninstalling the angst-apps and declaring out loud, “I’m taking a break from negativity!” YouTube suggested a clip:

“We have leaders who are 'unfailingly negative’” with Arthur Brooks from the American Enterprise Institute on CNBC is worth watching. It’s ten minutes of time well spent, discussing a big source of our excessively sad public perceptions today:

“We have leaders who are just unfailingly negative about the country; media that’s talking-down the country. It’s all bad news all the time. People are grumpy about that. So they can’t even get through it to see some relatively good economic news.”

Then the best part:

“What [do] we need? We need happier leaders,” says Brooks.

It makes sense. Think about our own real estate industry: If pundits, trainers, conferences and leaders keep repeating the messages that the market is slow, inventory is scarce, rates are too high, consumers are pulling back, buyer brokerage is broken, salespeople are quitting, you can see how people might start to believe it’s all a mess.

The fish stinks from the head, as they say.

The Future Belongs to Good Storytellers

You don’t have to fix everything to focus on the positive. Optimism and pessimism aren’t opposites. They’re just different states of mind. Start with what you control: YOU. Think your best. Try your best. Do your best.

Share stories of the people you’re helping, the opportunities you’re seeing, and the good outcomes that result more often than not. Those messages will catch on, for yourself as well as clients.

What about the temptation to go dark? Be on guard - that’s all you can do. Tell yourself inconvenience isn’t an injustice; a setback doesn’t mean you settled for less; a challenge isn’t the price of admission to pessimism.

Practice telling unfailingly good stories and success will flow easier throughout the New Year.

How can you start to tell good stories with optimism? I share some tips below. 👇👇👇

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How to Tell Good Stories

To tell better stories, here are a few tips. Anyone can do it, once you learn to combine the psychology of relationships with a formula for telling any message. It works for ads, presentations, bios, newsletters and content for social media.

Here’s how good storytelling works.