Tali Sharot, professor of psychology at University College London, says that believing in a better future brings success to our lives. But at the same time, too optimistic expectations can create problems.
It’s better to overestimate yourself than underestimate yourself
When people with high expectations achieve success, they attribute it to their own idiosyncrasies. “I am skilled in my field and therefore did a great job,” they are sure. And if they fail, it’s not because they’re bad employees, but because the task has been mispriced. “Next time I can do it,” they assure and feel better.
And for people with low expectations, the opposite is true. If they fail, they explain it by the fact that they are stupid. And if they succeeded, then they argue it is an easy task. “Next time reality will show its own,” they say to themselves and feel worse.
No matter how stressful today, tomorrow everything will be better
As a result of a large-scale survey on the topic “What are your favorite days of the week?” Saturday came first. And it is interesting that people put Friday in second place, and only Sunday in third place. People prefer Fridays because it entails weekend expectations. And on Sunday, the only thing you can wait for is the working week. That is, our expectations that tomorrow will be better bring us joy today.
Experiments have shown that optimism is not only associated with success, but it leads directly to success. And as a consequence – if we expect that the future should be bright, then stress and anxiety are reduced.
However, heightened optimism can lead to errors, risks and losses
For example, the British government set the budget for the 2012 Olympic Games with an optimistic bias of £4.2bn. In fact, it turned out to be twice as large.
