Take Optimism to Work
Apr 9, 2019
We have all been there. Seeing hours, or even days, of work getting destroyed because of some mistake -
our own or someone else's.
I remember vividly when this happened to me a few years ago. I was just finishing up my university course assignment: implementing a relational database in C++. I had worked on it for days on end and the deadline was looming. Alas, I had made the rookie mistake of keeping all my code on my local machine (Pro Tip: never do this). My hard drive crashed, and in one horrifyingly frozen instant, all my code vanished. Poof, gone!
Now there are two valid responses to this situation. One could decide to wind up shop and go get an exception for the assignment from the professor. One could buckle up and rebuild the code from scratch. I chose the latter. I was disappointed for having lost all that work, but I also worked on kindling hope in my heart. This time around, I told myself, I'd finish the work much sooner since I had already done a version of it before. No need to give up and "fail".
As I look back, what I did that day was let hope win over despair. These days I find that having a strong bias for optimism is needed for most of what I do. There are so many BIG ambiguous challenges that we @Microsoft - and folks in tech, in general - solve for humans around the world. It is important to come in every single day feeling buoyant and optimistic, or we will never get anywhere worth going.
What is optimism, and how can one be more optimistic?
Matthieu Ricard, dubbed "the happiest man on earth" by popular media, deconstructs optimism into the following ingredients:
If you are like me and work in tech - or in any field that has huge potential to solve the world's biggest issues - have a bias toward optimism. It is especially important if you are starting on a new project with a lot of unknowns. Come in to work every day hopeful and determined to solve the problems in your way. Stay calm and be resourceful as obstacles come up. And know that every moment has a meaning - whether it is joyful or frustrating.
I remember vividly when this happened to me a few years ago. I was just finishing up my university course assignment: implementing a relational database in C++. I had worked on it for days on end and the deadline was looming. Alas, I had made the rookie mistake of keeping all my code on my local machine (Pro Tip: never do this). My hard drive crashed, and in one horrifyingly frozen instant, all my code vanished. Poof, gone!
Now there are two valid responses to this situation. One could decide to wind up shop and go get an exception for the assignment from the professor. One could buckle up and rebuild the code from scratch. I chose the latter. I was disappointed for having lost all that work, but I also worked on kindling hope in my heart. This time around, I told myself, I'd finish the work much sooner since I had already done a version of it before. No need to give up and "fail".
As I look back, what I did that day was let hope win over despair. These days I find that having a strong bias for optimism is needed for most of what I do. There are so many BIG ambiguous challenges that we @Microsoft - and folks in tech, in general - solve for humans around the world. It is important to come in every single day feeling buoyant and optimistic, or we will never get anywhere worth going.
What is optimism, and how can one be more optimistic?
Matthieu Ricard, dubbed "the happiest man on earth" by popular media, deconstructs optimism into the following ingredients:
- Hope that you'll solve the problem at hand
- Resolve to see the task through to the end
- Adaptability to find creative approaches to leap over hurdles
- Serenity in the face of what seems to be insurmountable
- Finding meaning in the adversity in front of you
If you are like me and work in tech - or in any field that has huge potential to solve the world's biggest issues - have a bias toward optimism. It is especially important if you are starting on a new project with a lot of unknowns. Come in to work every day hopeful and determined to solve the problems in your way. Stay calm and be resourceful as obstacles come up. And know that every moment has a meaning - whether it is joyful or frustrating.