When optimism doesn't make you happier

I had an interesting conversation with my wife the other day. She made the comment that after every day at work, she’s usually positively surprised because she accomplished much more than she thought she would.

Opposites attract.

I’m a generally optimistic person—I don’t have to try too hard to see the silver lining in most situations. But this also means I’m overly optimistic about what I can get done in a day. I’ll start the day off with a list of ten things I can easily knock out that day, and… you can see where this is going. Often I only finish the first few things on the list.

The problem isn’t work ethic. It’s the unrealistic estimate, which leaves me disappointed at how little of my list I got through. So I’m learning to feed the inner cynic to end the day more satisfied.