People tend to think that the most important traits to possess in order to be successful are for a person to be very intelligent and know exactly what they are doing. While these attributes certainly play a role in one’s success, I personally don’t believe these to be the most important traits.  In my opinion, having an optimistic attitude is the foundation of success.  How can you fail when you wholeheartedly believe that you will succeed? 

Anyone can be qualified for a position if they so desire. They can go to school, get the degree, get the experience and training and get the job done, but what about the journey and the process along the way? While someone is working towards a goal, having a fun, upbeat attitude makes each day more memorable. More important than just getting the job is being someone who believes in a company and has high hopes and views for the company’s future and how they can play a role in its success.

Those who are pessimistic tend to do what they need to do with no attachment and they give up when a mistake is made because they just can’t fathom that all of their knowledge could let them down. On the other hand, those who are optimistic find the joy in a job and if something goes wrong they find the positive side of the situation and move past it.  Life is full of mistakes and setbacks and optimistic people look at failures as obstacles or challenges to overcome and they find ways to learn from these experiences. 

I recently read an article about the importance of optimism (my inspiration for writing this). It talked about three questions to ask in an interview when hiring and I felt that they were something to be shared:

1. What in life keeps you going? (Optimistic people will be able to answer immediately with something they are passionate about. Pessimistic people will have a hard time finding what it is that inspires them.)

2. When was there a time that something went badly and you were responsible for it? How did you deal with it? (Optimistic people will have no trouble telling you about their failures, how they dealt with it and how to change the outcome of it next time. Pessimistic people have a hard time taking responsibility.)

3. The company you work for put you in charge of a very important project and has now decided to cancel it. How do you respond? (Optimistic people will feel disappointed inside but will move on and take what they did and learned so far and apply it to the next project. Pessimistic people will typically be very mad and will choose to not do it again.)

So if you’re smart, that is a wonderful quality. If you know exactly how to do something, you’re a step ahead of me! But if you are optimistic, then I believe you have the full package and nothing can stop you from getting to where you want to be in life.