Accentuating the Positive

My first thought: I don't want to begin this project feeling depressed and resentful.

My second: I'd like to feel good about this project.

Same idea? You bet. Which one do you think I'll use with my conversational partner?

Any time you find yourself ready to present a negative viewpoint, think instead about whether you can present the same information in a happier light.

My mother says that, in Japan, waiters would say, "Yes, we do not have," rather than, "We're out of..." I wouldn't advise you to go quite so far--but why not follow modern weather forecasters and see the day as "partly sunny" instead of the older "partly cloudy?"