I am an optimist, though it has not always been that way. On the whole though, despite many challenges in life, I’ve been able to keep a positive attitude. Pessimists argue that they are prepared for the worst when it happens, but optimists argue that while you are focussing on what can go wrong you often miss what you can do to make things go right (as well as making life miserable). Some years ago I came across a concept that wonderfully summarises an optimist’s strategy in the arcane area of software design: The Happy Path.
In software design a good system can cope with most if not all eventualities. However, an analysis method that starts by listing and dealing with everything that can go wrong usually results in over-complicated systems that are difficult to use and maintain. In the Happy Path approach the designer sets out the most direct route to achieving the goal. For example, an online shop would have people choose an item and put it in the basket, log in, agree to using their saved credit card and delivery address, take payment, and dispatch the goods. An advantage of this is that for the majority of users this is the fastest they can buy something, and they spend less time in the system. From the shop owner’s perspective they are likely to get more satisfied regular customers.
The designer then goes through each step and works out what might go wrong. The principle of the Happy Path approach is to return the user to the main path as quickly as possible. So, if we look at the second step, it is possible that the customer has not got a log in, and so the designer creates a side path to register the user then return them back to the Happy Path. As well as simplifying the design, it provides a methodical way of working through all options.
So, how does this apply to life? Well suppose you are planning a holiday. The Happy Path would be to find your holiday, book the holiday, pack your bags, turn up at the airport, fly, enjoy holiday, go to airport, go home. Weeks after your booking, you get a message from the company saying that the hotel you were booked in has been flooded, and they offer you an alternative hotel or your money back – you look at the new hotel, decide it is perfectly fine, accept it, and you are back on the Happy Path to your holiday.
Some people start a journey by worrying about everything that can go wrong. Sometimes they never set out on that journey as the list of possible problems seems overwhelming. Or they set out with a bag of worries, and at the first hurdle are disheartened by the obstacle in front of them. They can then lose sight of their destination and even abandon their journey. Every obstacle becomes a confirmation of their worries, and their bag of worries gets added to.
The Happy Path principle means you plan your journey, then deal with the obstacles as they arise. It does not mean you do not plan in a way to minimise risk. In fact the Happy Path approach gives you a method of checking off possible obstacles (does my passport expire before the holiday, have I got adequate travel insurance), but then when you have resolved them you don’t brood over all that might go wrong. If a freak storm delays or cancels your holiday when you get to the airport, you mutter a few choice words, choose what is the best way of getting back to the journey, or whether to abandon it and rebook the holiday when you have claimed on the travel insurance or got the refund back from the holiday company.
A few years ago we set off on a two week holiday to Madeira. As we approached the island the wind was too strong for us to land. We flew round the island a few times, hoping it would drop, before the pilot decided the only safe thing was to return back to Manchester, refuelling in Portugal on the way. We landed back in Manchester in the early hours of the next day and the airline had booked us into an hotel. The next morning we found out that the next flight was three days later, the car was locked in a compound, and there was a rail strike so we could not easily get to another airport. So we booked on the next flight, booked into the hotel another three nights, and had a really fun city break in Manchester going to theatres, galleries and restaurants we would never otherwise have visited. We flew to Madeira for a 10 day holiday instead of 14, but were back on the Happy Path, and indeed had turned the detour into an unexpected pleasurable city-break.
The Happy Path approach is not a form of denial, it is a process of dealing with things at the most appropriate point, and worrying about things when it is appropriate to do so. It is a constructive way of learning, dealing with one obstacle at a time. It is not blind optimism, it is a realistic way of dealing with an uncertain world, planning for the most likely problems in a measured way, and riding with the unlikely problems as they arise.
Suppose you are thinking about applying for a new job because you are tired of your current one and feel you could do something more interesting and challenging. The Happy Path approach would say get the application in, attend the interview, then if the job is offered decide whether you want it. If you don’t get selected for interview, see if you can find another job to apply for. The process of applying for jobs and (with luck) being interviewed is a great way of learning about yourself and what is available and possible. Not applying for a job because you might get rejected means you will never apply for another job or you will miss a valuable opportunity.
The Happy Path applies to all of life’s challenges. You take sensible precautions (insurance, packing a spare pair of clothes, locking valuables in safes, setting the burglar alarm). Then, when a curve ball arrives (illness, an accident, a storm that blows a big tree over in your garden and wrecks it) you work out what to do. Mark Twain said “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life – most of which never happen”. Where do you want to spend your energy? Do you want to spend it, like Mark Twain, on things that may never happen?
Next time you set out on a new venture, ask yourself what is the Happy Path. Then see if you can keep to the path. And if you can’t, can you apply the principle to find a way back or choose a new path? You will get frustrated and upset from time to time, but you will spend less time worrying about things that may never happen.