The new buzzword in business is “defensive pessimism”

Einstein was right. Time is relative, and it travels much faster in Los Angeles, where I am today, than anywhere else on the planet.

Product meltdowns, PR disasters, financial scandals, corporate ctastrophes…let your imagination run wild as you dream up the ultimate nightmare. And then try to make certain it never happens. I believe that, like most business fads, this is simply insane. The shortest road to disaster starts with negative thinking..We focus on where we’re going – and if we’re focusing on failure, failure is what we’ll get. This is why life never gave that old misery-guts Tony Hancock much to smile about! Far too many people practise “defensive pessimism” instinctively, ven if they have never heard the jargon. My toughest task when trying to motivate business teams, and even athletes, is to shatter the habit of negative thinking. Doubt and anxiety are the automatic response to a challenge for people who have trained themselves to accept failure.I refuse to accept failure. So should you. Turn the jargon on its head, and force your mind to use “aggressive optimism”. Dream of the very best that can happen. Picture the best possible outcome in your mind. And start planning how to make this dream a reality. Every daydream is like a prayer. You would never pray for disaster – so why waste your energy imagining it? Focus like a laser on success, and burn a path straight to the top.