Optimism

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Reading Seth Godin’s blog entry on “Peace of mind” reminded me of a section I recorded from my reading of Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism:

“The optimist sees a setback as temporary, while the pessimist sees it as permanent. The optimist sees an order that falls through or a sales call that fails, as a temporary event, something that is limited in time and that has no real impact on the future. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees negative events as permanent, as part of their life and destiny.”

A few other great thoughts on optimism:

Lee Trevino: “The difference between the amateur and the professional? The amateur thinks about the hazard, the professional thinks about the landing area.”

Winston Churchill: “For myself I am an optimist—it does not seem to be much use being anything else.”

Hellen Keller: “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”

W Mitchell: “Before I was paralyzed there were 10,000 things I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I’ve lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left.”

Get it in gear. There’s nothing stopping you from being successful. Selling is an inside game.

Now go sell something!