Most things in your career will have a balance. You'll need to learn how to balance your time. You'll need to learn how to balance your investments, your learning. You'll need to learn how to balance your relationships. In today's episode, we're going to talk about one of those balancing characteristics that you will need in your career. My name is Jonathan Cottrell. You're listening to Developer Tea. My goal on the show is to help driven developers like you find clarity, perspective, and purpose in their careers. What does it mean to you to be honest? Now, we're not just talking about telling the truth when somebody is asking you about some set of facts. We're talking about transparency. Transparency. Confronting some reality that you're staring at. If you're a manager, you're going to have to deal with this not only for yourself, but also for your reports. Understanding how to confront the truth in a way that doesn't deny the truth, or try to turn it into something that it isn't, is a critical skill. But this is where the balance comes in. If you have a difficult truth, and you're not going to be able to confront it, the balance that you have to strike is how to remain optimistic in the face of that difficult truth. Optimism doesn't necessarily say that everything will be okay. Instead, when you hear optimist, I want you to think optimal. Specifically, in a given circumstance, there are things that you can improve. There are things that you can influence, that you can change. And of course, there are things that you can change. And of course, there are things that you cannot. Someone who is an optimist is recognizing the situation and believing that they can operate to the best possible outcome. It's important to recognize that the best possible doesn't always necessarily mean good. It may simply mean the best given the circumstances. That is, indeed, what optimization is. That is, indeed, what optimization is about. Not necessarily to get everything perfect, but to take what you've been given and produce the best possible output. This is a balance because confronting a harsh reality may often lead you to believe that things are out of your hands. Being transparent can sometimes put you in a passive state. And so the balance here is to recognize what you can act on. What can you optimize? How can you create an optimal outcome given your scenario? Given the things that you can't change, what will you do? This is a challenge rather than just confronting those realities and throwing your hands up in the air. If you can learn to confront difficult realities directly, to name them for what they are, to, in a sense, know what you're up against, then you can much better approach the conversation of optimization. You can actually have a fighting chance to create an optimal outcome if you're not trying to bend or hide from the truth. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Developer Tea. I hope you will walk away thinking about optimism as a way of creating the most optimal outcome given your circumstance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, enjoy your tea.