Optimism Is a Skill

The future is shaped by optimists who imagine how our ability to solve problems improves over time. Optimism is a choice and an act of imagination, where we envision things working out well and improving. It is easy to imagine things going wrong, but harder to imagine how they work well. However, if we can imagine the positive outcomes, we increase the likelihood of them happening. Optimism does not mean ignoring problems, but rather seeing how our ability to get better and future generations' ability to improve can lead to success in solving problems. While new problems will arise, we have the capacity to create new solutions to solve them even faster. This small difference in our ability to solve problems is all we need. We are living in a protopia, where things are getting infinitesimally better each day, despite occasional setbacks. Optimism is a skill that can be learned. Optimists understand that setbacks are temporary and can be overcome, while pessimists believe setbacks are inevitable. Therefore, by choosing to be optimistic, we can envision the best outcomes for ourselves and increase our chances of achieving them.