How to be More Optimistic in Life and Business

Women are less optimistic than men.

Women tend to worry more about household income and economic outlook than men. This explains partly why women are less likely to start a business in the first place.

Entrepreneurs that are pessimistic typically don’t succeed. They constantly question everything and doubt things before they even try them out. Being a pessimist will not help you build your business, you can be realistic but you always need a dose of optimism to go on this exciting journey that entrepreneurship is.

In the past I have worked with a few pessimistic entrepreneurs. Out of respect to them I will not mention their real names but I want to give you an example so that you can figure out for yourself if you need to work around any pessimistic thoughts you might be having.

How to Be Optimistic and Resolve Pessimistic Tendencies

Anna would come to our sessions with an idea and present it to me and we would then discuss her idea and I would tell her that I thought the idea was great but instead of being happy about my answer she questioned it. Then she would give me a long list on why this idea wouldn’t work or what could potentially go wrong. She basically talked herself out of the idea even if it was a great idea.?

It is good to think things through but if you make it a habit to talk yourself out of every idea you have, then you’ll never have an idea that you’ll actually execute. If you are having these pessimistic thoughts, then practice doing the opposite and talking yourself into an idea.

Every day I come up with ideas that seem a bit crazy. Doing an international conference in Iceland for over 1000 female entrepreneurs from all over the world definitely fits into the crazy box. I could easily have talked myself out of the idea and if I was a pessimist then I definitely would have.?

The idea sounded so crazy at first that I did push it away but the thing about good ideas, they keep coming back. Over a period of a few years the idea just kept coming back to me.?

Then one day I realised that it was something I really wanted to do, it went from a crazy idea to a good idea. I knew that if I would start to think about the how of the idea, that I would actually be able to talk myself out of the idea, so I decided not to think about how I would actually execute the idea. I just put a date on my dream because the rest is just logistics.

Put a date on your dream, the rest is just logistics. - Sigrun?

I consider myself optimistic, I’m no Pollyanna which means to be blindly or excessively optimistic and I don’t think I am unrealistic - but I do believe that everything will work out. Therefore I am not the one to talk myself out of the ideas I get. That’s a job for my team and my husband. Yes, you should sooner or later have someone on your team that is more realistic than you. They are your sounding board to make sure you don’t do stupid things. But you, as the entrepreneur, need to be the one who believes that anything is possible or you need to partner with someone who does.

If you believe that things will work out, you’ll find opportunities.

If you believe that things will not work out, you’ll see obstacles.

- Wayne W. Dyer.

What has helped me the most when it comes to optimism is to believe it will work out. In Iceland we have the saying "thetta reddast" (translation: it will work out) and I suggest you embrace this saying for your life. Interestingly, things always work out. And if they don’t, there is a lesson that needs to be learned along the way.

You can only win or learn, there is no failure.- Nelson Mandela

P.S: If you’re in need of a mindset shift and need some help creating abundance in your online business then I can help...?

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Put a date on your dream, the rest is just logistics. - Sigrun