If you are starting a new business you need to have a pessimistic attitude

If you are starting a new business you need to have a pessimistic attitudeIf you are starting a new business you need to have a pessimistic attitudeIf you have a brilliant new product or innovation youre convinced will make millions dont get your hopes up. Inflated confidence may work while pitching Shark Tank, but in reality, maintaining a measured air of pessimism could be the edge that increases your chance of success as an entrepreneur, says a new UK study.Business owners who begin their ventures with great expectations earned about 30% less than conservative-minded entrepreneurs, according to the research.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and morePessimism may not generally be seen as a desirable trait but it does protect people from taking on poor entrepreneurial projects, saysDr. Christopher Dawson, lead author, and associate professor at the University of Baths School of Manageme nt, in a release. He worked with researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Cardiff University on the study.Researchers followed people moving from working from someone else to starting their own businesses, using 18 years of data from the British Household Panel Survey a major longitudinal study.In the UK, only half of new businesses survive for five years. Optimists tend to self-select into self-employment, as an increasing number of studies find, wrote the researchers.Its a crowded field, full of hopers and dreamers, said Dawson, and new entrepreneurs would be wise to hold on to their expectations.ur results suggest that too many people are starting business ventures, at least as far as personal returns are concerned, he said. As a society, we celebrate optimism and entrepreneurial thinking, but when the two combine, it pays to take a reality check.The study was published in the European Economic Review.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people