There were 2 excellent shoe salesmen who were very good friends but who were as different from one another as night and day.

Let’s call the first salesman as The Pessimist and the other salesman as The Optimist.

When they went down from the plane to a third world country for the first time, the Pessimist was exasperated for he saw thousands of people with no shoes. What misfortune he exclaimed: “These people don’t know a shoe even if it hit them right between their eyes. How can i possibly sell to these people who have walked barefoot all their lives?”

The Optimist was overjoyed. “How lucky can I be!,” he shouted to the heavens. “All these people need shoes and I am here to sell it to them.”

After a month of walking from town to town selling shoes, Pessimist and Optimist found themselves in the middle of a desert where not a tree nor animal or building was in sight for as far as the eye can see. The Optimist was relishing the feeling of tranquility while the Pessimist was cursing his bad luck and thought he would die from the heat.

Minutes later, the Pessimist seemed to be right. For he saw a big, ferocious lion in the middle of the desert who was clearly not eaten for days and was now salivating at the sight of his prey. While the Pessimist was praying for some miracle, the Optimist was putting on his rubber shoes.

The Pessimist said: “Dude, you crazy fool, you can’t possibly outrun the lion in this desert!”

The Optimist replied, while tying the shoelace: “You’re right old friend, can’t outrun the lion. But with these shoes, I can certainly outrun you!”

As your Hypermarketing Proof of Learning (HPoL), pls post a comment below showing a real situation which can be viewed very differently by an optimist and a pessimist.