Musing on optimism

Reaching a personal goal brings about a sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction. To achieve your goal, learn how to identify the gremlins of goal derailment, which primarily consists of FUD. You can defeat FUD imagining yourself achieving your goals, tuning out negative remarks by others, personal negative self-talk and finally, surrounding yourself around others who have similar interests. Once you have learned to defeat FUD, you will have gone along way in achieving your dreams � it happened for Dylan and it can happen for you.

How did Stockdale survive when he didn’t know if he were going to live or die or see his family again?

“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, when I asked him. �I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

I didn�t say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, �Who didn�t make it out?�

“Oh, that�s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”

“The optimists? I don�t understand,� I said, now completely confused, given what he�d said a hundred meters earlier.

“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We�re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they�d say,’We�re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end�which you can never afford to lose�with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”