Humans are wired for mulling over the potential negatives of life. Our survival instinct drives this behavior. Like Jason Bourne, we're aware of the exits in our situation should we need them. Our minds play out scenarios to have a ready counter for adversity. There's nothing wrong with this. As mentioned, it helps us survive. But something I've considered lately is that maybe we miss out on a lot of good that might come our way because of this instinctual wiring. We don't give the same weight of thought to the potential positive outcomes. I think if a situation goes well, we just kind of sit back, and we see that's there's no survival reaction necessary, and then we just say, "Okay," and climb down from our negative expectations. We're surprised, caught unprepared for an easy success, and there is no plan for what to do next. Think about what happens when someone tells you, "We need to talk," or when a co-worker tells you that your boss has been trying to reach you. Your mind races with everything that might be wrong. Do you much consider that maybe it's good news, or at least positive? Your boss: "Hey, you did a great job on that proposal. I just wanted to let you know."
You: "Oh. Okay. Well, thanks."
Your boss: "You bet." You're flat-footed and that's all that you can muster to say. But think about it: what if you had spent time thinking of the positive outcome? Your boss: "Hey, you did a great job on that proposal. I just wanted to let you know."
You: "Thanks. I'm glad it was well-received. You know, our next steps should focus on the strength of this opportunity. If you have a few minutes, I'd like to go through those with you."
Your boss: "I do have some time. Come into my office and let's see what you have." I think part of the reason that success doesn't just bust through the ceiling and into the blue sky for us is because we're usually not ready for success. We spend so much time in mental preparation for what can go wrong that we're unprepared to capitalize when it goes right. We do this in relationships. We do this in our career. We do this all the time. If we spend our time traversing negative roads in our mind, it might be the only road we can see to travel in real life. | 
