Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable. ~Voltaire
If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges. ~Pat Riley
Perhaps I am splitting hairs on this one, but if it makes you think it works for me. Many see me as an optimist, but I see myself as a realist. As I have thought about why this is the case, I think it comes down to my positive attitude.
Does a person who is an optimist have a positive attitude? I think most of the time they do. But is a person with a positive attitude an optimist? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Perhaps a simple example…
I am clearly not optimistic about the state of public education in North Carolina, and one might even say I am pessimistic about the state of higher education in NC. But I keep a positive attitude about both. The reason I maintain a positive attitude is I see the good people that are doing the right things for the right reasons. Teachers who continue to teach and go the extra mile to help students. Professors who teach, research, and serve because that’s what they are passionate about. Each has opportunities to advance their careers in different places, but they are committed to NC. This is home and they want to make it better. But at some point many of these people can no longer pass on the opportunity costs, so they do something different.
We are losing good faculty. Good people are tired and feeling beat up. That’s a reality. Some will come up with all kinds of reasons why and explanations, but that’s not the point of this post. In the end I believe we can still make a difference. We can continue to work at finding solutions, to make things better. There are still things we can control. We can work smarter, do things differently, and continue to make a difference. That’s a great reason to keep a positive attitude.
All the best!
