tiny bets no. 08 - bet that it's on purpose.
What if you believed that everything was going well on purpose?
Things have been going unusually well for me the past few weeks. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the underlying wavelength of anxiety in my life because of a lot of tiny bets and changes I’ve been making for myself. It’s been incredible.
However, when I noticed the optimism and ‘lightness’ surrounding me, I found myself questioning it and thinking “Things feel too calm. This isn’t right.”
I’m sure you have these thoughts because it’s the typical bullshit that fills our heads when things seem too good to be true.
Imagine this:
You just worked through a big challenge in your life and everything is going well.
Unusually well, even.
You suddenly start to feel a sense of unease.
“It seems like things are going a little … too well. Am I forgetting something? Ugh. Something bad’s gonna happen. Things are never good for too long. Last time this I felt this way…”
Then boom. Something rocks the boat. The other shoe drops. That Bad Thing you were waiting for happens.
“AHA! I knew it was too good to be true.”
You sigh, but are secretly patting yourself on the back for being right about the Bad that happened. The brain loves to be proven right.
Sound familiar?
It should — because it’s built into the plot of every story we’ve read or watched.
In a screenwriting class I took, we spent a lot of time examining the different acts and arcs of movies as we worked on our own scripts.
In every movie, there are 3 acts — and within each act, there are ‘moments’ aka beats… turning points that move the plot forward and set the audience up for the next act.
As the story breaks into the 3rd act, the protagonist is typically “returning to battle” and has a new plan to combat whatever happened in Act 2.
Everything seems like it’s falling into place. Optimism, determination and/or motivation are at an all-time high. Until…
The crisis happens.
This arc is engrained in our minds. I’d even bet that when you see things going too well for a character in a show or movie, you assume something bad is on the way.
And you’re usually right because challenge, triumph, rinse, repeat is literally built into the formula.
I’m giving you this random mini-lesson in writing because it’s important to realize that life isn’t like the stories we consume.
Take a second and think about this: How would your life be different if you bet that things were going well on purpose and not because it’s a fluke?
So back to what I was talking about in the beginning:
When things were going great and I was questioning things, I asked myself,
“What if it actually is this good? What if life gets to be this good and there’s nothing lurking around the corner waiting to teach me a lesson for being HAPPY? What if I worked hard to get to this point and that’s why I’m here?”
Was I subconsciously creating tiny bits of chaos in the past because I assumed it was normal, and couldn’t sit quietly with the belief that things were simply great? Possibly.
Probably.
Do you do that too? Possibly.
Probably.
We’re mentally conditioned to expect the bad after the good, and that’s the actual bullshit of it all because Things👏🏽Can👏🏽Simply👏🏽Be👏🏽Great👏🏽
So my challenge to you is this:
Allow yourself to enjoy the moments of good with no strings attached.
When things are going well, believe they’re going well on purpose.
Believe that the other shoe isn’t waiting to drop and you’re not on the brink of chaos.
Believe that things going great will continue.
In your story, there isn’t a formulaic arc that you’re following. Just the one you’re writing as you go. So move the plot along intentionally.
If you become open to the feeling of things being great as your new normal, eventually it will be.
Because: The brain loves to be proven right.
So give it something great to be right about.
tiny bets are all the small things you do that stack up over time to craft a reality you love. These memos are a mix of woo, science, philosophy, and thought experiments to help you feel inspired to show up for yourself and your work daily.