12/27/201716 871 Reading time: 9 min. Hooray, abstract topic! Optimist, pessimist, realist and indifference - these 4 personality types that I want to talk about today are very different from each other. And I propose to analyze them in more detail, identify their characteristic features, and draw conclusions about which of these types you should strive for and why. Looking ahead, I will say that drawing such conclusions is, in fact, not at all easy. But first things first…
There are many discussions and debates about these four personality types, jokes and aphorisms are even written about them, and there are many tests to determine your type. What is the difference between an optimist and a pessimist, a realist and a don’t care? This can be expressed very briefly and in simple words using a simple example:
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel. An optimist is the light at the end of the tunnel. The realist is the light at the end of the tunnel, and the train coming towards him from there. The person who doesn't care also sees the train, but he doesn't care.
Or another example. An optimist sees the glass as half full. Pessimist - the glass is half empty. The realist sees exactly half a glass of water. Nobody cares how much water is in the glass.
Here is the simplest test to determine who you are: an optimist, a pessimist, a realist or a don’t care? Just one question:
These 4 personality types project a similar vision onto a variety of situations, processes, and areas of their life. Let's look at this in more detail.
Who is an optimist?
An optimist is a person who looks at life, its processes, and phenomena with a positive vision of the future. Among all the possible outcomes of a certain event, he sees the most successful, the most promising. “Everything is good, but it will be even better!” - this is the life motto of an optimist.
Typically, an optimist is defined as the best personality type out of these four. Psychologists, coaches, trainers teach us to be optimistic, explaining it as follows.
Thoughts are material, and what a person thinks about is what he attracts to himself. If he thinks about good things, he will attract good things, and life will turn out better. He will think about the bad - accordingly, on the contrary.
Yes, of course, there is a rational grain in this. I myself wrote a whole article about how important a positive attitude is. However, there is also a significant drawback to optimism.
An optimist always underestimates risks or completely neglects them. And as a result of making decisions based on one’s optimism rather than common sense, one often suffers some losses. Including financial ones.
We can say that an optimist looks at life with rose-colored glasses.
Who is a pessimist?
A pessimist is a person who looks at life, its processes, and phenomena with a negative vision of the future. Among all possible outcomes of an event, he sees the worst. “Everything is bad, but it will get even worse!” - this is the life motto of a pessimist.
The same psychologists claim that it is bad to be a pessimist, why - I already wrote above. However, pessimism also has the other side of the coin.
A pessimist is overly cautious and attentive. Since he foresees a negative outcome of an event, he will do everything possible to protect himself from negative consequences. Pessimists are reinsurers, and in certain areas this can be regarded as a positive quality. Again, incl. and in financial matters.
We can say that a pessimist looks at life with dark glasses.
Who is a realist?
A realist is a person who looks at life, its processes, phenomena with a real, most accurate vision of the future. Among all the possible outcomes of an event, he sees the one that is most likely to happen, no matter whether it is positive or negative. A realist, unlike an optimist and a pessimist, analyzes the situation without emotions, relying on a cold mind and sober calculation.
We can say that it is not bad to be a realist, because they choose the optimal option more often than others and make fewer mistakes than others. But this also has its downsides.
In the lives of most people, and indeed in the world around us, negative events predominate. And a realist really sees this, that is, in fact, he perceives the situation as a pessimist. Therefore, he is largely characterized by all the shortcomings of a pessimist.
We can say that a realist looks at life using ordinary glasses to improve vision.
Justification for pessimism
But pessimism also has its defenders. Even though the expectation of negativity can be quite painful from a psychological point of view, pessimists are immune to disappointment.
Thomas Hardy, an English writer, remarked:
Pessimism is a safe bet. You cannot lose in it, you can only gain. This is a view of life that does not allow you to be disappointed. If you think through what to do in the worst possible circumstances, when the best arises, you perceive life as a fun child's game.
This view is supported by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. According to his concept of loss aversion, we feel twice as much pain from losses as we do joy from comparable gains.
For example, a person who has lost 5 pounds sterling may experience twice as much as the joy of an unexpected gain of 5 pounds (about 500 rubles). In most cases, the perception of profit or loss depends on what you expected. A salary increase of 5 thousand pounds per year (about 500 thousand rubles) may seem like a loss if you were expecting 10 thousand pounds (about 1 million rubles). Optimists, far from reality, expecting much, set themselves up for large doses of destructive disappointment.
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Who is this nonsense?
A person who doesn’t care is a person who looks at life, its processes, and phenomena with indifference. He doesn’t care what the outcome of the event will be, he doesn’t worry and doesn’t experience any emotions about it. "Come what may!" - that’s the motto of a person who doesn’t care.
Quite a few people are of the opinion that among these four personality types, those who don't give a damn have the best life. Simply because they don’t worry about every little thing, nothing worries them, doesn’t make them angry, doesn’t irritate them, doesn’t make them angry. Those who don't care live a calm, measured life, without really thinking about whether they are making the right decision or not.
I also believe that in certain situations, not giving a damn is the best position. But not in all of them! And this type of personality can also have significant shortcomings.
Those who don't give a damn have the hardest time achieving anything in life because they don't strive for anything. A person who doesn't give a damn will never make an outstanding personality; as a rule, this is the so-called. “gray mass” floating with the flow.
And now that I have briefly described all 4 personality types - optimist, pessimist, realist and indifference, let's try to draw a conclusion: who is best to be? And this is exactly the case when I personally do not have such an unambiguous conclusion.
I believe that a person should combine the qualities of an optimist and a pessimist, a realist and a don’t care, and, depending on the situation, take one position or another. It will be best this way.
For example, I most likely have a predominant realist approach. At least that's how I see myself. At the same time, you can find qualities of all other personality types in me.
And who are you? Optimist, pessimist, realist or don't care? And, in your opinion, who is best to be and why? Write your opinion in the comments, I think it will be interesting.
I say goodbye to you with best wishes. Subscribe to our public pages on social networks to quickly track the release of new publications. See you on Financial Genius!
Afterword
There are common opinions about what it is worth adhering to this or that position in life. However, in reality, it is more beneficial and useful to be able to apply different types of thinking depending on the situation and need. In addition, having at least four different views, you can more easily, more fully and quickly evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the current situation.
For example. An optimist can see previously unnoticed opportunities, as well as revive a depressing atmosphere, thereby raising the general spirit. A pessimist will easily find all the gaps in the situation and identify possible risks more accurately. A realist will be able to more clearly identify the possibilities available. And a person who doesn’t give a damn will be able to find unique approaches to all this and act ahead. As you can see, having these 4 approaches, you may have more opportunities on your hands than if you approach the matter one-sidedly.
It is also worth understanding that there are times when one or another archetype is more preferable.
Slightly exaggerated examples. For joy, a pessimist, so that joy does not go beyond the limits of reason. For sadness, an optimist, so that the emotion does not develop into something more serious. For everyday affairs, a realist who will simply get things done, and not concern himself with the harmony of the environment. For decisive matters, he doesn’t give a damn, since he won’t waste extra time and effort. And so on.
However, it is worth understanding that just a glance will not replace everything else. Your knowledge, experience, skills, activity, sound logic and other aspects also influence your success and results. As they say, “scratching your tongue is not carrying bags.” Therefore, always remember about sound logic and the fact that you have your own head on your shoulders.
Pessimist, optimist, or realist. Who you are?
People are often divided into pessimists and optimists.
A long time ago I read such a humorous story. I don’t remember verbatim, but something like: “A pessimist and an optimist had an accident and broke the same number of ribs and limbs. The pessimist lamented that he had broken his arm and three whole ribs, the optimist was glad that his second arm was intact and twenty-one more ribs were equally intact. After being discharged, the first one complained to everyone that he had been lying in a hospital bed for a whole month, the second one joyfully said that the doctors kept him for about four weeks. And so on... The story is funny and quite instructive. In fact, many things can look completely different depending on which side you look at. In addition to the above-mentioned views on life, psychologists also talk about realism. This is how, for example, Ozhegov’s dictionary defines three categories of people. Pessimism is a gloomy attitude in which a person does not believe in the future and tends to see the dull and bad in everything. Optimism - A cheerful and cheerful attitude, in which a person sees the bright side in everything, believes in success, in the fact that the world is dominated by a positive principle, goodness. Realism - A clear and sober understanding of reality when implementing something.”
“Wan Yi, who lived near the eastern gate, died a son. But he didn't grieve. They asked him: “Sir, you loved your son like no one else in the Celestial Empire!” Why are you not grieving now? To which he replied: “Before, when I didn’t have a son, I didn’t grieve.” And now he’s gone, just as he wasn’t before... So why should I grieve?” This arrangement may seem almost cynical to us. That is why the parable emphasizes that the father loved his son very much, but... what happened has already happened. And there is no point in poisoning yourself with grief. I can give you an example from my own life. Even in my youth, working on a regular five-day schedule, I jokingly constantly besieged my colleagues, who were happy on Fridays because there were two whole weekends ahead. I told them that there was nothing to be happy about, because now it would be Monday again very soon. People asked me when to rejoice. As when, on Monday and rejoice. Rejoice that Friday is coming! At one time, in order to calm down a person who was very upset by some nonsense, well, he lost his wallet, had a fight with his boss, you never know, I used this trick of my own invention. He said this:
- Listen. You understand that in just 270 years, your problem will not matter at all.
Most often, the person first looked puzzled, then asked:
— Why exactly after 270?
I explained with a serious look:
- Well, because I think that after such a period of time no one will remember about it. And the number is beautiful...
Here the interlocutor, as a rule, began to engage in his own thinking and began to reason independently:
- No, well, what does 270 have to do with it? And in 100 years, will anyone remember? Yes, what 100 are there! In a year... Yes, I’ll forget in a month, or maybe in three days! Oddly enough, this kind of joke really calmed people down many times. You can look at the same event as a trifle, or you can see it as a universal catastrophe. It all depends on what angle you look at, or from what level. On the other hand, you shouldn’t admire someone or something too much. The higher we place something or someone in our lives, the more palpable the bitterness of loss. And in some cases, we should evaluate what is happening more critically, when a dose of pessimism is simply necessary. So, if you really want to be realistic, in moments of despair, look for optimistic moments in the situation, and when everything is very good, don’t be too jubilant, wait for the catch. Remember that “fate never favors with true sincerity.”< And as for another category - those who don’t care, this is just a type of optimist. Their motto is that you can do whatever comes into your head, and nothing will happen for it. These are people with increased levels of endorphins in the blood from birth. Everything about them is almost always pink. Well, of course, pessimists lack these same endorphins, our natural drugs. [su_divider top=»no» text=»UP» divider_color=»#12416e» link_color=»#12416e» size=»1" margin=»20"]
People always divide themselves into groups. This is probably in our nature: noticing the difference in our views and not wanting to be “on the same team” with those who think differently, we consider ourselves to be a group of like-minded people.
In this article I want to talk to you about the characteristics of optimists, pessimists and realists. Perhaps you recognize yourself or your friends here
