"Optimism is an intellectual choice."

Diana Schneider

Did you ever see a pessimistic infant? Of course not. People choose pessimism over optimism because they derive some peculiar satisfaction from spreading gloom.

You have free will, so exercise it. Choose to be hopeful and confident.

...Go through life expecting good things. And do all you can to fulfill your optimistic outlook.

Play with a Winning Assumption

It's easy to stay motivated when things are going good. But motivation is often a matter of dealing with discouragement. Lots of things can be discouraging (dis-courage). You might be passed over for a promotion. You might be let go. You might be ignored. Might make critical mistakes, costly missteps, and bad calls.

You might get broken. You might end up in debt. Might get rejected. Might get cheated. Might fail to deliver. You might miss the opportunity, or blow the chance of a lifetime. Your competition might leap ahead, leaving you feeling small, insecure and behind.

And devastating discouragement isn't just tied to things going wrong.

Having not yet mastered your chosen skill can depress. So can knowing you have a long way to go, or seeing yourself near the bottom of an org. chart, or looking at a low bank account balance.

Often times after my keynote presentations, someone asks, "Do you ever get down, or depressed?"... "Nope, and I never go to the bathroom either," is my internal reply. Of course I get discouraged and down. I'm taking risks, and a lot of them are crashing. I'm knocking on doors, and a lot of them are not opening.

I've got dreams, and a lot of them aren't happening. And, I want to be the best, and most of the time, I just ain't there yet. (Anyone seriously questioning what I get discouraged over just needs to look over my "Ooops" list.

Every single goof on that list discouraged me for a while, or two).

But there is a philosophy that re-encourages: Play with a winning assumption.

What is a winning assumption? Figure it out for yourself from this

scenario: Your favorite football team plays a big game, and you couldn't watch so you had it taped. On the way home to watch the taped game, your eyes accidentally glance at a newspaper headline that declares your team won.

At home, you sit to watch the game anyway. Your best friend sits down to watch with you - he roots for the same team - but he doesn't know the final outcome. At the end of the first quarter, your team is down by 7 points. Ne ither you, nor your friend, is really concerned.

By the end of the 2nd quarter, your team is behind by 14. Your friend is agitated and nervous. You're calm and confident. The 3rd quarter rushes by and as the game heads into the 4th quarter, your team is behind by a devastating 21 points. Your friend is feeling depressed and angry.

He gives up, gets up and leaves, declaring, "It's over. It's hopeless." How are you feeling? You're feeling excited, confident and anxious to see how your team pulls it off. You want your friend to stay and experience the victory.

What is a winning assumption? ... The deep-seated assumption that no matter how bad it currently looks, you win in the end if you keep playing your best. Once rooted in your very essence, it is an assumption so powerful that it will not only encourage you to keep playing, but also reassure you during hard times.

I don't know where I got this faith in a winning assumption. Maybe in part it came from the phrase my friend and mentor, Leland, would often repeat during discouraging times, "The last one standing wins." Or maybe because so far experience has taught me that all setbacks are followed by triumphs.

(Unless you give up, of course.) But these explanations only go so far to explain my belief in always picking myself back up.

Logically, I know I have not seen the end of my life on video, and have no real assurance that I come out on top.

So, sometimes I am perplexed by why I am almost always re- encouraged during my most vulnerable moments by the mantra, "Don't worry about it. Just keep playing. You win in the end. This discouraging moment just makes for a more thrilling comeback story." (Most of the time the mantra works so well I can smile at the circumstances that are torturing me - laughing on the inside over my future triumph.)

But maybe I am wrong. Maybe we have seen the end of the game, before it's even been played out. After all, when you've visualized your dreams coming true time after time, you just naturally "see" yourself winning once again.

Until next time, be great, Patrick CombsSee More