My friend Seth Godin wrote a great post a couple weeks ago about why the word “realist” suddenly became synonymous with the word “pessimist”.
Why? According to who?
He makes a lucid point: “Sometimes, people with small goals call themselves realists, and dismiss those around them as merely dreamers. I think this is backwards.”
Hope springs eternal, yes. But it doesn’t work very well in a vacuum.
What Seth means is, I think, although hope and optimism are not entire solutions in themselves, they are both actually very useful for moving the mission along, faster than it would progress without them.
Meanwhile, the “realists” are busy consoling themselves at the bar, telling anyone who will listen why it can’t be done.
