Secret to a Great Day and Happiness? Pessimism.

Now I hear ya, it sounds a bit unconventional, and it is, but I promise you, that if you try this out — you might actually have a shot at having a great day.

Here’s why, most of us start our day by saying “today’s going to be a great day”, which is a bad thing because your expectations are way too high for the world and the people in it to fulfill.

Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic philosopher starts his day by saying this to himself

“Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness”

Although this may look like something a depressed person would say to himself, but the intention of it is actually very different.

By saying this to yourself, you’re eliminating expectations. By saying this to yourself, you’re not pressuring the people of this world to stand to your expectations. You need to understand that people behave a certain way because of the circumstances they face.

You may say good morning to your Uber driver and she doesn’t say it back. It doesn’t mean she’s a bad person, maybe the reason she’s frustrated is because her last customer was rude to her.

So everyday people go on to face many things in life, some good and a lot of bad things, if you don’t expect anything from people and just focus on your part, focus on being nice, helpful and generous without expecting anything in return — then this world will be a much better place and you’ll be a much more happier!

Your expectations are the source of your disappointment.