Our natural character and tendencies probably take us in one of two directions: the glass is half full or it is half empty. Someone may be labelled 'a born optimist' or (as a friend of mine used to characterise some colleagues in the office), 'negs'. At a sizeable men's meeting recently, I began by giving out small slips of paper and asking all the men to label themselves as 'O' or 'P'. They had to do this spontaneously, and without overthinking it. The anonymous results came back fairly equal.