Confusing Wishful Thinking for Actual Reality

Have you ever let a poor outcome continue for longer than you should have, despite recognizing that it’s not working? Of course you have. I sure have. Sometimes it’s in the gym with our habits, relationships with people, hanging in on a job that you’re just waiting to turn the corner. We have all done this in some form because a piece of us always wants to see the negative outcome course correct. We believe. Even if you’re not an optimist, we’re all wishful thinkers on some level. We don’t want to believe that our world view has failed us because that means we must change it. Scary.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done with this gym in the past when rolling out x, y or z. Dead set in my mind it will work and refuse to project anything onto it other than sheer optimism. Wishful thinking is such a powerful weapon when planning positive change. After all, why not project onto something that it has the potential to be better? But at some point, we need to develop the skill to separate what we hope for versus what’s actually happening.

• Am I getting what I need to from this?
• Have I tried alternative approaches?

If not, we make a choice to deflect reality for fear of discomfort and ultimately, that’s on us.

-Dave