How do Wisdom and Selling go together?

Welcome to Wisdom Selling. So if you are like me, you are always wanting to learn more. Well here is the deal about selling. It is the desire to exchange something you have, for something of more value to you. You may have an idea, a product, a service which people will want to pay for, allowing you to make a profit. You have to seek out people who might want it, and convince them it is worth the price you are charging. Or like me, you may just have a little wisdom, and are looking for someone who values it enough to want to use it. My value received in return is the joy of your feedback. So, I am selling wisdom. The cost to you, your interest. I want to help others as well. Visit the links page and shop for some good deals. Any profits on money you spend there will be used by Wisdom Selling to support non-profit businesses in developing their strategies.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

What if the glass is neither half empty or half full?

We have all heard that phrase used to separate optimists and pessimists.  It is a way to define a view of life wherein it is halfway to something.  Either it is on the way up, and we might consider the optimist approach, which says - it is half full, thinking I have gained and might gain some more, or... the glass is half empty - far from its potential and and sinking fast. 

Let's look first at the negative - the pessimistic viewpoint.  The implication is that there is a big container that could potentially be filled up, yet it is only halfway there, and all that can be focused on is the empty part.  It is an analogy for unfulfilled potential, something that many of us dwell on.  What a difficult way to view life, when all we can see is the part of life we are not experiencing.  The water in the glass is almost invisible to us, as we see the "empty part" only.

The optimist on the other hand, focuses on the water in the glass, not the empty space.  The empty space is some nebulous unmet potential that is not going to get in the way of enjoying the half full glass.   The difficult part here is the tendency to become content with the fact that there is something in the glass, without realizing the potential that exists.

I propose a more radical view of this simple statement, and it is the basis of the question at the beginning.  What if indeed the glass is neither half full or half empty, but rather the glass is too large for the contents?  What if we need a smaller glass so that we can see both the content and the potential?  Is this an impossibility or even too nebulous to think about?  Let me try and explain.

A person who is experiencing a pessimistic view of life, cannot get a grasp of their potential due to the overwhelming size of the possibilities.  Without any guidance or the ability to filter out the noise of life, it appears that there is a lot this person could be doing that they are not.  There are things they could be experiencing but are not.  It is so easy to fall into this trap, sort of a grass is always greener philosophy.

I contend that by taking the time to go through an exercise of what it is you really want to accomplish, setting some goals with realistic milestones, you can begin to get a handle on what is really important in life that you have not yet experienced.  The amount of empty begins to shrink down to the most important things, not everything.  If you are able to add to this an ability to focus on what is good already in your life, since there is less undone now, then a more positive and potentially fulfilling life becomes available to the pessimist.

For the optimist, sometimes it is easier to focus on what they have already done that face the fear of doing something different.  In the same way, the ability to focus down the not yet accomplished to a few key goals with attainable milestones may be the answer.  Diving into the pool is not as hard when you aren't on the high dive, and often the optimist doesn't want to get out of the pool where they are comfortable and satisfied for the excitement of the dive.

Choosing to pursue a goal can help the optimist see that there is opportunity for new, without it discounting what they have already attained. 

So maybe the glass is just too big, and the current contents are just right, we just need a little less air space to make it not so formidable.

Ponder this today.

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