May 29, 2009

“I don’t think anything’s going to come of it.”

Negative attitudes are a heavy load to carry.  They burden not only the purveyors of gloom, but also weary those put upon by the malaise.  A large dose of the dismals can dampen even the brightest of dispositions.

I sometimes wonder if pessimism isn’t habit-forming to the degree that it almost becomes part of a person’s approach to life.  We all know someone whose proclivity toward negativity is their posture at the beginning of every conversation.  We recognize the predilection of these folks.  We have felt the drain of attempts to engage them in productive activity.  We sooner or later build an aversion to undertaking even the simplest of dialogues with them.  Working projects with them is out of the question.

One such “Negative Nellie” with whom I worked had a standard comeback for every assignment he was given.  The task plan would be established, goals set, and suggestions offered to help him get started.  Invariably, the response would come, “I don’t think anything’s going to come of it.”  Of course, nothing ever did.

Such results often lead the rest of us to temporarily become the dreaded cousin of “Negative Nellie”.  The cousin of whom I speak is “Nervous Nellie”.  Aren’t you nervous when you see negative coming?

The only solution to this vexing problem comes from the great sportscaster, Keith Jackson, who often said, “Whoa, Nellie!”

May 29, 2009