The disruptive ‘Pessimistic Mindset’

We have been looking at negative mindsets that we are born with and how we need to get out of these before we evolve to a positive mindset. In the past two articles we have seen the damage caused by an ‘Anger mindset’ and the ‘Me, Myself and I’ mindsets. This article focusses on the pessimistic mindset, its negative effects and how one can evolve from a pessimistic mindset to a balanced mindset, face life with reality at the fore without extreme optimism or negativity, and move forward with flexibility and hope.

The Cambridge dictionary defines a pessimist as “a person who thinks that bad things are more likely to happen or who emphasises the bad part of a situation”. Basically, pessimists are wired to look at the negative side of everything, whether it’s a situation, person, product or service. A person with the ‘Pessimistic mindset’ dampens the spirit of positivity for himself and others, spreads gloom and demotivation. Mindless pessimism is always counterproductive. A pessimistic mindset often than more results in a defeatist attitude. It is said that a die-hard pessimist will find negativity in happiness. If you have a disruptive pessimistic mindset, how do you evolve to a balanced and a realistic mindset?

Embrace positivity

A positive outlook, changes the way you look at life or even, how you become you become a problem solver instead of being a fault finder. When you embrace positivity as a way of life you start looking at the world with a new vision. Here one is not talking about extreme optimism, but eliminating extreme pessimism and approaching life with a balanced and realistic attitude. There are a few fundamental steps we need to take to make this change. The first step is to have genuine gratitude and appreciation at the fore of your priorities. The second is to change into a problem solving mode. Once you take these proactive two steps you will feel the difference. Actually it’s half the battle won!

Get more followers

You must have heard that people leave their bosses, not organisations. Imagine how much damage you can cause with a pessimistic mindset to your leadership capabilities. People tend to align with leaders with a positive mindset as the human mind rejects negativity- and pessimism creates negativity. Humans are naturally wired to resonate with traits and environments like joy, hope and enthusiasm. Getting people to follow you and what positive change you can bring about in their careers and life is the essence of success. People with positive mindsets can easily win friends and influence people. Positivity motivates, negativity demotivates.

Become healthier

Normally, people with a pessimistic mindset tend to be unhappy by nature. They thrive in negativity. Being pessimistic leads to negative emotions like depression, anxiety, anger etc. which lead to stress. As we all know stress leads to a fight or flight state of mind and there are harmful toxins that get released in your body like cortisol. Our blood pressure rises, disorders are rife and we become unhealthy. Just try laughing out loud, see how it changes your mood, any wonder we have laughter clubs for the morning walkers in parks. Just laughter boosts your endorphin and dopamine levels and these are happy hormones! A good diet can work wonders. As they say, ‘You are what you eat’.

Value happiness

Happiness is but a state of mind and has several benefits. Today, happiness is seen to be essential especially in the toxic post pandemic world. There are professional ‘Happiness Consultants’ who guide you on how you can improve your state of happiness. People who have a pessimistic mindset more than often lack happiness. A state of happiness means having the innate ability to reframe negative thoughts, it’s a trigger to evolve to a positive mindset.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Amitesh Banerjee

Amitesh is a seasoned positive integrated communications disruptor with several years of multi- country/multi- domain experience. He has worked for reputed organisations in senior leadership positions including JWT, ITC, New Zealand Dairy Board, Seychelles Marketing Board, Perfect Relations, Genesis BCW, Adfactors, Della Group, H+K Strategies among others. Amitesh is Senior Vice President of Beanstalk Asia- a leading Integrated Marketing Communications firm.