I am going to admit, I am a pessimist. Always have, and always will. And I am not afraid to say it out loud.
This is probably a rant. So if you hate rants, you can stop reading here.
The opening keynote in my company has just ended. Good topics were brought up and presented. I can definitely say I have a good feeling about the changes happening, and am looking forward to whatever it brings.
But there will always be the pessimist in me that will ask
what if things go in a different direction than expected?
My curiosity got the better of me, and I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. My question was: if the guiding principles dictate different directions in a certain case, is there a priority? The answer I got started with “ideally“.
Maybe I should have added better context before ending the question. Maybe I should have mentioned that this may not happen that often, but the possibility is there. Unfortunately, the time was too short.
But starting with ideally already indicates that situations are expected to be perfect. Cases should fit the norm. To achieve best results, things should conform to some normal conditions.
Let us face it, if everything was ideal, there would be no problems. But let us face another fact, your ideal world is probably not the same as mine.
Now, the thing about us pessimists is that we often think about anything and even everything that can go wrong. Let us call these risks. This means, to me, that we acknowledge that we do not live in a fantasy world. It also means that we can be ready if things go haywire and that we can take steps to mitigate these risks.
Of course, I am going to offer the benefit of the doubt here. The answer given was probably some spur-of-the-moment thing. But I had hoped that the risk I mentioned above was at least taken into consideration and that it is a known. Be it a very low one, as long as it is there.
To end this, I actually told myself to stop being a pessimist a long time ago. But that changed. I am now acknowledging risks, and am ready to take necessary steps to avoid them, or even steer around.
Silke 