I read with interest a blog from Jeff Kehoe of Harvard Business Review talking about optimism. “What happens … when we don’t have enough optimism, … Businesses don’t get created, business investments and loans are witheld. Talented people don’t get hired…” (Optimism, Unfashionable Perhaps, But Necessary, 03.18.11)

One of the very real dangers in human endevours, be they personal or business, is when we find ourselves dwelling on the negative: we stagnate, we get stuck in fear, we often succumb to a victim mentality where risk mitigation is a polite term for hoping someone will “do something!”

Although I admittedly didn’t spend a lot of time paying attention in high school math, I do remember sine waves; those graphic representations of highs and lows. During the highs of business or personal success optimism is easy, almost too easy. It is in the lows that optimism is so challenging to grasp, but grasp it we must. Neither I nor Kehoe are talking here about a chirping, unrealistic, “everything’s fine” kind of optimism. Rather it is a deep knowing that there are good times and bad times, and that where there is life there is creativity and possibility. We need in business and in life generally to acknowledge the reality in which we live, and to know that as sure as a sine wave, bad times will follow good times, and good times will follow bad.

And most importantly, this deep, knowing optimism is not something that you can get from someone else. Yes, we can be encouraged by loved ones, affirmed by supporters, and even admired in some quarters, and those will help feed optimism, and even create a kind of surface level optimism at times. An optimistic spirit however comes from within, and needs to be cultivated from within.  It comes from acknowledging the points I’ve been raising in recent weeks; tough times need to happen in order for us to grow, facing our fears is a vital part of our development, and living into life humbly and honouring the fragility of life and relationships are all key. We see that as dark as life can be and often is, the possibilities out of growth and development,  the recognition of our own strength and power and that amazing depth of human spirit we find in the darkness, lead us to the inescabale conclusion that life is good. And out of that will come the spirit of optimism so needed in our lives and businesses today.

May each of us find that spirit within soon.