This blog post is adapted from episode #462 of the SuperDataScience podcast.
I get my workout programming from a brilliant athlete and coach named Marcus Filly who dropped out of medical school to compete at the highest professional levels of competitive fitness.
Marcus provides seven days per week of programming but on Sundays, there’s no physical work, only mental work. Recently, the mental work was to shift our mindset to the motto “It Could Be Even Better”.
It Could Be Even Better.
That phrase has stuck to me like glue since that Sunday. “It could be even better.” Every time I catch myself in the moment feeling grateful for what I have — a breathtaking view while on a bike ride or a compliment from a listener of the SuperDataScience podcast — I now think to myself “it could be even better.”
I have a tendency to slip into negative thinking whenever something good happens. Whenever something positive happens in my life — my company had a record month of profitability, I back squat more weight than ever before, I get to spend an extra hour with family — I jump to the negative flipside right away.
After a record month of profitability, I think to myself, “It’ll never last. Next month, we’ll lose a key client or I’ll lose a top performer from my team and everything will fall apart.” Now I think to myself, sometimes even say out loud, “It could be even better! Next month, we’ll get new machine learning features deployed within our software platform and we’ll land yet another big contract. We’ll be more profitable than even the record month we just had.”
After setting a personal record for the back squat, I tend to think to myself, “Well, this is it. I’ve peaked! Next month, I’ll fall off the wagon, overwork myself, feel too tired to go to the gym, and I’ll never be as strong as I am today.” Now I think, “It could be even better! I’m going to continue to recognize when I’m overworking, continue to stay disciplined about going to the gym, continue to eat well, and continue to improve at my lifts.”
After getting to spend extra time with family, I tend to think to myself, “Well, that was nice, but now I won’t get to see them again for several months because of professional commitments or pandemic-related travel restrictions or whatever. What a drag.” Now I think, “It could be even better! I could have even more love in my life. I can make extra phone calls or send small thoughtful gifts to my loved ones and our relationships can grow even when we’re away from each other.”
Do you suffer from this tendency too? It seems like assuming the worst whenever we’ve experienced something positive is in-built in a lot of people — perhaps to shelter us from negative outcomes when they do actually transpire? Well, whatever the reason, forget it; it could be even better. We can’t stop negative outcomes from happening. But by being optimistic, by having a growth mindset that our latest success isn’t an aberration, but rather a stepping stone to even greater achievement, studies suggest we can see more options, be more creative, and make better decisions, ultimately increasing the probability of greater future success, a virtuous positive feedback loop. And we get to enjoy that moment even more!