Optimism Is The Only Way Through

When we think of the word “bias”, we typically associate it with something negative.

If you’re biased towards a certain viewpoint on the world—let’s say, the idea from the red pill that “men and women can’t be friends”—you’re going to actively seek information from creators that confirms that belief to be true.

Then, you’ll start interpreting situations in real life that may not be at all related to that belief as proof that men and women really can’t be friends.

This act of delusion might seem inherently harmful, but biases can be incredibly helpful when used as a tool.

For one, biases help us to save our limited daily brain power. And in certain cases, that can help us save the resources needed to use our logical brain when it matters.

But they can also help us shift our energy and attention on things that make all of life easier to deal with.

I don’t think humans would’ve survived for as long as we have, had we not had select groups of people looking for the silver linings.

We all know there’s a million and one ways to look at any situation. You get fired from your job, and you might say to yourself, “this is the worst thing that ever happened to me”. But then, 10 months later, you’re the happiest you’ve ever been. It was a blessing in disguise, but it just didn’t seem that way in the moment.

I truly believe you can make most things a blessing in disguise if you prime your brain to start looking for the good in things.

And I don’t know if there’s anything more useful for making life feel like it’s worth continuing.

The biggest question is how. If you’ve been programmed to see any inconvenience, misfortune or suffering you go through as a destruction to your being, how do you start to shift your perspective?

The same way you develop any other bias. You start to focus and consume more of the things related with that bias—except, in this case, you are creating this bias intentionally.

There is something you can extract from every negative experience, and flip it into a lesson or deeper underlying meaning.

Consume the type of content that favors optimism over nihilism. Surround yourself with people that choose to see things the same way. Start paying attention to how your thoughts are biased towards negativity, then make the effort to transform them.

You’ve spent years convincing yourself the world is out to get you, that things won’t get better, and that you can’t change.

Although you might have more objective evidence that this is true, consciously decide to look at these things in a hopeful way through an optimistic bias.

After a while, you’ll start to naturally focus on the most benefical perspective for you. The minor hiccups turn into lessons. The big failures turn into lore building for a great life’s story. The character flaws turn into beautiful opportunities to improve.

Sometimes, things really might seem hopeless, but your bias will allow you to effortlessly find solutions to a way out.

And pretty soon, the sun heat’s will feel good on your skin. The loud streets will look like a conglomerate of busy people all making progress in their own lives. And your own crappy circumstances will present themselves as the greatest quest you could embark on.

Depending on how deep these internal negative biases are, this process could take years—and it’s especially hard when you don’t have people around you reminding you of how far you’ve come.

I wanted to give people the tools to finally break the cycle of watching self-improvement videos, trying to make progress, then hopelessly reverting back to their negative biases. (A cycle I was in for years.)

And I wanted them to be able to conquer this all within the context of a positive community biased towards optimism.

That is why I created my community, Self Mastery School.

Self Mastery School is a place for those who want to actualize their greatest potential, strengthen their self awareness, build better habits, and break the cycle of self-sabotage.

When you join the school, you’ll get access to:

• Full length courses/eBooks

• Weekly coaching calls and lectures (related to self-awareness, making money online, social skills, etc.)

• An exclusive community of ambitious, open-minded people

• In person meetups (coming soon)

The friendships in there feel genuine.

And I have a feeling you’re going to find your tribe in there, too.

Here's some wins from our community:

I’ll see you in there.

Quote of The Week

Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

-Cole