Len, the 'Stockdale Paradox' illustrates your point.
Admiral James Stockdale....was Ross Perot's Vice Presidential candidate in 'the '92 election. He didn't fare so well as a VP candidate, but he was quite an impressive military man. He was former president of the Naval War College and was the highest ranking officer in the "Hanoi Hilton" in Vietnam. He spent eight years in Hanoi and was tortured numerous times by his captors. Mr. Thomas Barnett relates:
"Stockdale tells the story of the optimists who never survived their time in Hanoi, simply because they clung far too much to their dreams of release and in doing so couldn't handle the brutal realities of what it took to survive the day to day. "So instead of dealing with the here and now realistically, they tended to cling to the hope that they'd be home by whatever the next holiday was, and when that day came and went, their spirit would be diminished by that measure.
"Over time, they died because their spirit was extinguished by reality."
Stockdale's explains his "paradox" this way:
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end (which you can never afford to lose) with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
What Stockdale was really describing is the flagrant abuse of 'positive thinking.'And you know what? A lot of entrepreneurs are really just too optimistic. Worse yet, the business opportunity pitchmen exploit this and sell ridiculously unrealistic plans to starry-eyed people. What a shame.
I seriously doubt anything you ever face in business will be as dreadful as the Hanoi Hilton. Still, nothing can be worse for you than to walk into battle with a plastic
sword and helmet, and then get cut down with tanks and machine guns...."
