The Optimistic Attitude

An optimistic attitude is an integral part of winning in life. Few become champions on their first effort. Winners and achievers are the ones who persevere.

As a little boy growing up in the USA, my favorite cartoon character was Charley Brown of “Peanuts” fame, the perennial lovable loser. Charley Brown’s creator, Charles Schultz (1922-2000), was probably the most popular and influential comics author and illustrator who ever lived. Yet before he tasted success, he too was a lovable loser. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero. He also flunked Latin, algebra and English. And his record in sports wasn’t any better. Though he did manage to make the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season.

Charles Schultz then decided to pursue a career in drawing, having been proud of his artwork. His high-school yearbook editors rejected the work he submitted. He still believed in himself. So after high school, he submitted a portfolio to Walt Disney Studios. They rejected him too. Charles Schultz didn’t give up. He decided to tell his own life’s story in a cartoon where the main character would be a little boy who exemplified the chronic loser who millions of people would learn to identify with and love, a global star, “Charlie Brown.”

Jenson Button is a British race-car driver who won the Formula-One World Championship in 2009. Yet, he flunked his first driving test at the age of 17.

Sir Edmund Hillary participated in two abortive attempts to climb Mount Everest before he succeeded on his third attempt in 1953.

Benjamin Cardozo, renowned Justice of the United States Supreme Court and former Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, failed at his first attempt at the New York Bar Exam.

Schultz, Button, Hillary and Cardozo – like many other winners – were the ones who kept reaching for the top even when they failed to reach the top. In fact, every step that made toward the top was a success in itself.

There are good reasons – for our own benefit – why we have failures and setbacks in life. In addition, the Creator has some excellent reasons for not letting us succeed on the first try.

Many people ask a seemingly tough question: if the Creator controls everything, and He loves me, then why doesn’t He let me succeed?

We’ll preface our answer by noting that falling short of our goals is definitely a type of tribulation, since our lives are much more pleasant when we taste success. But the tribulation of interim failure is like a cloud with a silver lining. With that in mind, here’s why the Creator often withholds initial success:

1. The Creator delays success until we can properly learn to nullify our egos, so that the success won’t lead to arrogance, for arrogant people forfeit their connection with Him.

2. The Creator often delays success to encourage us to make a second, more concerted effort.

3. Delayed success is a test of Faith. By accepting our interim circumstance with optimism, especially the type of optimism that comes from faith, we show that we are worthy of future success.

4. One additional reason that we don’t succeed in reaching the peak that we set our sights on is that we might be climbing the wrong mountain or ascending the wrong path.

Life’s difficulties and setbacks frequently necessitate a reevaluation of where we’re going in life.

Sir Isaac Newton was tasked with running his family’s farm after his father died, but he failed miserably. If he’d have succeeded, he’d have never attended Cambridge to study physics.

Walt Disney worked for a Kansas City newspaper as an illustrator but was fired for “lack of creativity.”

Steven Spielberg started producing movies only after he’d been rejected admission to the University of California for the third time.

Having studied agriculture in university, I used to be a farmer, raising tree-fruit and turkeys on my mountaintop farm. At the age of 33, a skirmish with death while on active reserve duty during the First Lebanon War triggered my comprehensive reassessment of where I was and where my life was going. I decided to become a clergyman, spiritual guide and life coach and virtually started all over again. Were it not for my setback and trauma, I could have still been picking peaches and feeding turkeys instead of helping people around the world and doing what I truly love.

Don’t let setbacks disappoint you. Someday, you’ll look back and realize that they were all for the best and necessary stepping stones along your way. Keep reaching. As long as we don’t give up, sooner or later, we’ll reach the top. As long as we’re optimistic and reaching, we’re in effect at the top already. Every step we make toward the top is success in itself.