It’s much easier to build when you’re optimistic.

less than 1m read

·Nov 3, 2024

We all, you all, get to create this future. Yes, and there's this thing where it's cooler and edgier and more punk rock. Yes, to be like everything is, and that's a good high horse to be on if you want to be cool. But if you're actually building things and you want to be a part of creating it, yeah, it's much easier and more fruitful to be optimistic and think about all the things you can do.

Think about what you personally can do and what you can work on. Yes, versus just being like "burn it all down" because of X. Well, you know, think about it: if you really care about those problems, you have to be optimistic to try to solve them. Some of the people who are like the biggest social critics or the biggest revolutionaries or the biggest change agents in our society were default optimistic. Yep, because they believed it could work.

They believe that effort wasn't a waste of time. You have to believe enough to invest yourself into something. Exactly, and so I'm willing to bet none of your heroes were the cool snarky folks who never did anything and just bitched about how the world was.

Reshma Shetty, Founder of Ginkgo Bioworks at the Female Founders Conference

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It’s much easier to build when you’re optimistic.

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