How To Advance The Cause

IF YOU'D LIKE TO CRUSH pessimism, ruin negativity's popularity, and promote positivity, the first and easiest thing you can do is simply share this web address with people:

crushpessimism.com

Most email programs allow you to create a custom signature. You could add crushpessimism.com to your signature, adding it to the bottom of all your outgoing mail, and without ever pushing anything on anyone, people who are interested will check it out. This is an easy way to promote positivity.

Not only will those web addresses direct people to a site that could change their minds, but the web address itself is a message. And to help you share the message, we've created a Crush Pessimism store with products advertising positivity and the crushpessimism.com web address.

What you can do is learn all you can and become as unthwartable as possible. And as you find what works, write to us here and we'll post your ideas on this page.

Here's one idea: People ask you all the time, "What's new?" It's an innocent question. It's an opening. It's a person wanting to talk, wanting to connect with you. You can have fun with that opening and create a conversation something like the following.

They say, "What have you been up to?"

YOU: I've been busy ruining pessimism's popularity. Would you like to help?

OP (OTHER PERSON): What?! How?

YOU: Going here would be a good start (hand them a card with crushpessimism.com written on it). It teaches people how to crush pessimism and promote positivity.

OP: How'd you get into this?

YOU: Pessimism makes people feel bad, makes them less capable, and it's bad for their health. And it's not a character trait — it is learned, and it can be unlearned.

OP: What do you mean by "pessimism?"

YOU: In a nutshell, pessimism is a way of thinking — a way of seeing the world — that's false. And it's false in a way that demoralizes people. It takes the fight out of them. So things they could have achieved don't get achieved. Goals or "New Year's resolutions" that could really have been accomplished don't get accomplished. It's just a shame, and it doesn't have to be. But part of the reason it's so common is that pessimism and cynicism are cool. They're chic. So I'm out to ruin pessimism's popularity.

OP: Do you really think that's possible?

YOU: Sure it is! What, are you demoralized already? Just kidding. But think about how cool and chic smoking was just 30 years ago. Opinions are changing. The facts are being promoted widely. The same could happen to pessimism, and it could happen much faster. Pessimism could be widely seen for what it is: Damaging, destructive, harmful. And foolish.

Read more: A Handy Tool For Defeating Pessimism Worldwide