October: The Case for Deliberate Optimism.
Choosing positive action without losing perspective.
Two weeks ago I visited Chefchaouen, the famous ‘blue city’ of Morocco. My tour guide, Abdul-Noor, whose name aptly means ‘servant of light’ in Arabic, comes from a family that has lived in the same home within the walls of the medina since the 1700s. The sight of the city is arresting from afar, with bright splashes of blue blending with the sky and contrasting with the white of the other dwellings. It is uplifting from within, with quaint, winding alleyways and azure corners providing bright accents, and pleasing vistas.
In the 1930s many Jewish families settled in Chefchaouen, and chose to paint their houses blue, the colour of the sky, the heavens and God’s power. According to Abdul-Noor, after the Second World War, many of the town’s inhabitants moved on, leaving behind a state of economic decline and malaise. The elders met to discuss the dismal state of the town’s finances and prospects for the future, and made the decision to begin painting more of the houses in blue – a colour of spirituality, peace and for them, optimism.
Over the following years, the blue houses made the town visually distinctive and tourist-worthy, bringing visitors, their cameras and their money. Chefchaouen is far more prosperous now, and the continued commitment to beautiful blue shades of paint creates an overall effect that brings a smile to the faces of the many nationalities that come from afar for photographic opportunities. The exact origins of the painting blue may be uncertain, but the continued decision to maintain and celebrate it is deliberate.
The decision to be more deliberate about our optimism, whilst still maintaining pragmatic realism, can greatly enhance our experience of the world around us. In The Four Principles, Discovery founder Adrian Gore explains that adopting a mindset of ‘disciplined optimism’ enables us to identify the positive signals that exist, instead of allowing them to be overshadowed by our inbuilt recognition of negativity and pessimism. He encourages us to recognise and act on areas of opportunity, as an alternative to becoming consumed and immobilised by threats.
Optimism is a conscious choice of mindset, and it requires a dose of discipline. It is not about shrugging in the face of adversity, or ignoring the hard facts. Instead, it is about still acknowledging the negative, but choosing to look beyond that and identify what possibilities emerge as a result of the challenge. Friction in a relationship can give us the chance to communicate better and strengthen a partnership, and an economic downturn could be the ideal time to start a business, or develop a new product.
Sometimes the upside only becomes clear after the fact. Pepe Marais, the c0-founder of the iconic advertising agency Joe Public, talks in Growing Greatness about a series of business setbacks that ultimately created an unexpected opportunity. After selling the business to FCB/IPG in an effort to expand their advertising offering internationally, the loss of their biggest client and then later the 2008 financial crisis meant that they had to lay off many of their staff and still record a significant net loss.
But this huge drop in value allowed Pepe and his partner Gareth Leck to afford to buy back the business, and begin rebuilding it on their own terms, paving the way for Joe Public to become the major player that it is in the advertising industry today. The circumstances that they found themselves in were dire, but rather than denying this, they recognised what was possible as a result of those circumstances, and that is what made the difference.
Research shows that negative information attracts more of our attention and carries more psychological weight than equally strong positive information. If ‘bad is stronger than good’, then what can be done to adopt a more optimistic mindset?
Audit your information sources: where are you choosing to read information, and is it a reputable, trustworthy source? If the facts are really important to you, conduct your own thorough research.
Be cautious of caustic conversation: does the person you are having the discussion with know what they are talking about? You don’t have to interrogate them, but if you ask questions and listen closely, you have a good chance of identifying their viewpoint and the possibility of it being inaccurate or one-sided.
Have empathy for emotion: but realise that it can skew the facts. Feelings ramp up responses – allow time for emotion to settle before coming to any rash conclusions.
Focus on what you can control: consider what can be done that would make a difference. Focusing on what we cannot control can be debilitating, but in most situations there are some options for action. Mood often follows action, and taking steps can feel empowering.
Create some distance from distressing news: if you genuinely cannot find some form of corrective action to take, then step back and allow yourself some mental space.
Disciplined and deliberate optimism is not about ignoring potential threats – they are valid, and they exist. Rather than fixating on them, it’s about focusing on the good that we can find, and the opportunities that we can create, just as the people of Chefchaouen have. Negative events and circumstances are part of our experience of life, but remaining alert to possibility helps us to see beyond them.