When I first read this brain teaser, I wasn’t sure there was an answer. But I didn’t believe it would have been asked if it couldn’t be solved. So here it is: “What makes this series of numbers unique – 8,549,176,320?” I guess it’s all in how you look at it. Sometimes answers are not obvious all at once, it may take one or two steps to figure it out.

It’s the same with the age old question of what’s the difference between what the optimist sees and the pessimist sees when they look at a glass that is partially filled with water. The optimist says it’s half full, while the pessimist says it’s half empty. But the real factor is not how they view the amount of water still inside the glass, but how they interpret the empty part.

Some say that this is the result of the optimist thinking positively and the pessimist thinking negatively. That may be true, but it still doesn’t answer the question, “Why?” For me it is the presence or absence of a thing called “faith.” The optimist believes there is more to come, while the pessimist believes there is little left. This can relate to opportunities, ideas, solutions, etc. Such faith gives hope, and hope inspires motivation.

When looking at a half-filled glass, both the optimist and the pessimist see that the unfilled portion can either be a reason to go on, or a reason to get out. That’s because the empty portion is really a vacuum to be filled with what is needed to make sense out of the situation. So often that’s how people look at life. For some, they get to a point where they say: “There’s nothing else I can do.” Or they can look as what they’ve already done and say: “Let me try something different.”

So faith then can be seen as unused potential. The dictionary describes potential as having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future; the latent excellence or ability that is there for the taking. In other words, the pessimist looks at the situation and is mesmerized by the status quo, while the optimist looks at the situation and dreams of what’s possible.

As such, there is either the reactive potential for failure or the proactive potential for success. But one thing remains true. You will never know which it will be until you try. The optimist exclaims: “Let’s do it! I believe it can happen!” The pessimist murmurs: “Don’t even bother, I already know the answer.” Now the real question: Which one are you? It may take one or two steps before you find out.

Oh yes, the reason the number in the brain teaser is so unique is because it contains all ten numbers between 0 – 9, and in spelling those numbers the first letter of each word are in alphabetical order. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda