Heading to Las Vegas this weekend. Yes, again.

I was reading an article by Heidi Grant Halvorson titled '9 Things Successful People Do Differently'. I thought each of these 'things' made sense but wanted to discuss thing #4, which I've copied below.

4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

I think of myself as optimistic and have always thought that it's better to err on the side of side of believing in success based on past information such as the power of positive thinking and the Pygmalion effect. I generally don't worry too much that I'm not being realistic because really, isn't that just a codeword for pessimism? Jokes aside, I think I do end up underestimating certain situations as a result and can stand to gain by tempering some of that optimism.

Tied into this concept of realism is the idea that visualizing success doesn't necessarily help to the extent that most people think. The benefits of visualization are still purported to exist, but it's the idea of visualizing the steps to success that actually make a difference, and not the success itself.

Which I'm assuming means that I should be dreaming about [placing bets, counting to 21, and winning] instead of just winning.

Double down!

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