Decide that your own best is enough for you. 

Optimism doesn’t increase our success, but it does increase our field of vision, which is what allows us to better notice and build upon the opportunities that lead to success.

Cynicism, on the other hand, narrows our vision.

The reason it doesn’t seem to make anything better because we’re not in the mindset of looking for ways to make them better. It builds negative momentum, which only makes us better at being cynical.

And so, if we’re interested in forging a future of abundance, we have to change our default mindset.

Williamson writes in her book of miracles that when we think something isn’t good enough, then it never will be; but when we think something is wonderful, it will only get better.

Somewhere in there is the fine line between irrational positivity and strategic optimism, and it really does work.

During my stint at a particular advertising agency, my daily commute home from the office was riddled with insecurity. Walking away from that place made me felt like a failure. No matter how hard I worked, none of my concepts made it past the first or second round of edits.

Our creative director had a very specific, proven way of working, and it simply wasn’t welcoming to my writing style. All of my ideas were sentenced to the cutting room floor at best. Any bad result became proof that I wasn’t good enough.

After a few months of beating the crap out of myself and doubting my abilities, eventually the time came to shift my mindset. Because fear and doubt were building negative momentum, and it was taking a toll on my psyche.

Thankfully, a friend of mine set me straight with a useful piece of advice:

You need to decide that your own best is enough for you, even if it’s not enough for them.

This reframing of my situation gave me peace. It didn’t bode well for my future at that agency, as it quickly became clear that my contract wouldn’t be renewed. But changing my story about success helped rebuild my confidence in the meantime, and that equipped me to get proactive and find another job before the current agency kicked me to the curb.

Whew. Just barely made it out before the forces of negativity took me down.

All because of my field of vision.

It’s not magic, it’s math. Without optimism, you simply can’t notice the opportunities that might lead to success.

If you’ve been doubting your abilities lately, ask yourself where the voice came from that tells you that nothing you do is ever good enough.

It be an outdated piece of code that needs a software update.

LET ME ASK AY THIS…
What if you dropped the illusion that completing some task would make you feel worthy?