Living with Reckless Optimism: The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything When You Stop Being “Realistic”

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SPEAKER_00: Safety info found at freestylelibre.us What if the thing that's been missing from your life isn't another plan or strategy?

It's not the motivation or the inspiration.

But what if the missing ingredient is a little bit more simple?

It's simply the belief that things in life are gonna work out.

Oh yeah, that's easier said than done.

But my friend, today we're talking about the life-changing impact that it can have on your life to not just be optimistic, but instead to begin adopting a mindset of reckless optimism.

It's all inside of today's 434th episode of Great Grace and Inspiration.

SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna live like I believe it.

SPEAKER_00: Somewhere along the way, whether it was in school or maybe at home by our parents, we were taught to be realistic, realistic about our dreams, about our expectations, our goals, our beliefs.

Everybody taught us to be realistic, because the things that we talked about were fantasy, things that would never come true.

And honestly, if we want to be truthful, we probably still wrestle with this as adults.

And maybe it's not other people telling us to be realistic, but rather it's ourselves telling us to be realistic.

Because let's face it, how many times do you catch yourself daydreaming about what you want to do when you grow up?

Only to then have this realization hit you.

What do you mean when I grow up?

Kev, I'm already grown.

I'm too old to think about starting over.

I'm too old to think about something new.

Or are you?

Or am I?

Maybe this idea of being realistic about our dreams is the worst piece of advice we were ever given.

One of the best analogies I heard in terms of this idea of being realistic is some people call it being an adult, being mature.

But in reality, it's just fear dressed up as wisdom.

Today, we're skipping past all of that, and we are focusing on not just being optimistic about life, but instead, we're focused on what can happen in your life if you start living with what I'm calling reckless optimism.

Now, where I was inspired by this topic was on another podcast I was listening to.

And in that podcast, I forget if it was the host or the guest, was talking about a chapter in his life where he actually found himself in prison.

And I don't remember the details of the story, but what hit me hard was the fact that while he was there in a jail cell, when you could say all hope could be lost, he was being forced to leave the life that he'd created.

He's being sent back to his home country.

And yet, in that situation, in all that doom and gloom, he made one pivotal decision to live with reckless optimism.

He started believing that things were gonna work out.

He knew they would work out, he knew that things were gonna be better from here on out.

And his life completely changed because he decided in that moment, in the midst of despair, that he would begin living, no matter the outcome, with reckless optimism.

Reckless optimism, as I said, it's not being naive, it's being defiant.

It's you deciding to live as if you know things will work out.

You know that you're not behind.

You're right where you're meant to be.

It's you living as if your story is not over.

And quite honestly, the best chapters of your story have yet to be written.

Before we really get into the meat and potatoes exploring this idea of reckless optimism, I want to be sure that we are on the same page.

So let us start by explaining to you what reckless optimism is not.

It is not this idea of ignoring reality.

It's not pretending that life doesn't hurt, or it's not acting like life isn't difficult.

It is definitely not that term of toxic positivity.

Instead, reckless optimism, in my opinion, the way that I'm defining it, is choosing belief without guarantees.

It's you waking up in the morning, knowing in your heart, in your head, in your soul, that things are gonna work out today, that today is gonna be an awesome day.

And it doesn't matter if you can see the path ahead or not, you know it to be true.

It doesn't matter if you wake up in the morning and the weather is dark and gloomy.

And it doesn't matter if the people who you do life with are in a bad mood.

You know that it's all gonna work out, that it's all gonna be okay.

You know that you've been knocked down before, that you've faced setbacks, but none of that matters because today it all changes.

Today, the odds are in your favor, are in my favor.

And together we can start tackling life, achieving the stuff we want, because we are deciding to live with reckless optimism.

This idea that no matter our circumstance, no matter where we are, no matter how hard things may feel, we believe because we know things are gonna work out.

There has to be brighter days ahead.

This can't be all that there is.

The book is not finished until it's finished.

And until it is finished, we hold the pin.

We are the author of our own story.

So let us choose to live it fully with reckless optimism.

So now, as good as all of that sounds, as easy as all of that sounds to do, to implement, to start living with reckless optimism, why is it that so many people aren't living this way?

And I'm sure there's many reasons, but one reason that I have to believe is that a lot of people don't lack the courage to do so.

They instead they lack the permission.

People are afraid to hope because it hurts when it doesn't work out.

When people have a belief and you share it with others, isn't it embarrassing when it doesn't work out the way you thought it would?

And especially a belief, something that you know wholeheartedly is true, and then it turns out to not work out, yeah, it can be really difficult.

It can be a big blow to your life.

And to be honest, living with optimism, especially reckless optimism, the kind of optimism that isn't just contained within yourself, but people around you know it.

Well, it makes it vulnerable, it makes you vulnerable to people's opinions, people voicing their opinion of you.

So instead, what do people choose?

They choose guarded expectations, they choose to lower their expectations, they choose to stop dreaming.

My friend, let's just do full stop right there.

Stopping dreaming, my friend, that is no way to live.

Not for you, not for me, not for the neighbor next door.

We all need to dream, deserve to dream.

Matter of fact, uh, there was an episode a few episodes ago where I talked all about you creating your biggest, boldest dreams, creating your big dream list, and that being the guide, your North Star.

But instead, we put up our guard, we put up that emotional armor, and we all keep playing small to avoid disappointment.

Now, the truth is, there's moments in our lives when being optimistic, living with reckless optimism, it makes zero sense.

When you put it on paper, there is nothing to be optimistic about.

Kind of like the guy who I told you inspired me to talk about this.

A guy who was locked away in a jail cell.

He had been living, I believe his story was that he had been living in America.

And yet, because of a couple of stupid decisions, he was being forced to leave the country, headed back to Australia.

And in those moments, the safe choice would be to just fall victim to your circumstance, to not be optimistic, to not have a positive outlook.

Maybe for you, it's to shrink the size of your goal, to play it safe, to not shoot for the moon, but instead just keep your ideas a little bit smaller, to stop dreaming quite so big.

But if we do all of that, then I have to wonder what is life even worth?

If we're not able to dream big, if we're not able to have big goals, to set high expectations for ourselves, for our future, then my friend, what are any of us doing?

If a team enters the field for Super Bowl Sunday, not expecting to win, then why the heck did they even show up to the stadium?

No, they show up expecting to win, knowing they can win, because they know that the positive mindset, the idea that even if the other team is better than them, when they enter the field, they enter the stadium with reckless optimism, my friend, the chances have just increased that they are going to succeed.

Because mindset controls everything.

If you go into it knowing that you're a loser, that you're not good enough, that you're not strong enough, well, my friend, chances are you're not gonna win.

You're not gonna win the race, you're not gonna get the raise that you walked into the boss's office asking for, you're not gonna get the promotion, you're not going to get what you want out of life if you have expectations that are low.

If you keep telling yourself that it's not gonna work out.

Well, my friend, quite possibly at that point, you might as well give up.

Instead, today is this idea of living as if it has worked out already.

It is living with reckless optimism, having an optimistic outlook even when the day is gloomy.

If you want to get really personal, for me, to be honest, when I went blind, if I had just succumbed to life as I was told it would be, maybe I never would have discovered the ability to learn how to use echolocation.

If I had just been set and put aside any dreams that I had for something bigger or better, if I had maybe just made my mind up that this is how it is, that all I can see is what my hands can touch, that nothing will ever be any different for me.

If I didn't have in the back of my mind this dream of seeing again, I believe that I never would have seen again.

And yet, my mind was open to new opportunities, to possibilities.

And I learned that wait a minute, I can see again, just in a whole new way, by the use of echolocation, by this idea of retraining my brain's visual cortex to see through sound.

Now, no, is echolocation like I used to see?

Not a chance.

But is it a heck of a lot better than what I had before?

You darn sure beta.

I went from a world of absolute nothingness to a world of shapes and objects, of sizes and dimension.

Because I have to believe again, it all came to be because I was already living with reckless optimism.

So, my friend, even if you think to yourself that you're not an optimistic person, maybe you're somebody who tends to view the glass as half empty.

Well, my friend, I have hope for you because I want you to understand that living with reckless optimism, it's not a personality trait, it's a decision.

This is a choice you make every single day.

You get to decide this for yourself.

To be a person who chooses to live with reckless optimism.

So you don't have to wait to feel hopeful.

You don't have to wish that you were an optimistic person.

You decide to act hopeful before hope shows up.

Before there is proof, before there's evidence, you have the hope, you have the belief, you have the optimism.

When you start living like this, when you start waking up with this mindset, your actions, they follow your expectations.

If you want to have low expectations, then you're gonna have a cautious life.

A life without goals being achieved, a life where you bunt the ball instead of hitting a home run.

Instead, you start living with high belief, then you start taking bold action.

So here's my game plan for you for how you can begin to live with reckless optimism and how it's gonna apply to your day-to-day life.

First step, first and foremost, I want you to begin assuming that things will work out.

So when you're faced with a decision, when you're faced with something that you're dealing with, instead of thinking to yourself, man, I don't think this is gonna work, or what's gonna happen if this goes wrong?

Instead, what if you start asking yourself the question of, what if this works out better than I could ever imagine?

What if the idea I have for this absolutely explodes?

It goes incredible.

The second step is no matter what it is, I want you to just take the risk, take the chance.

No matter what you think could go wrong or how it might go wrong, I want you to just go ahead and take action.

This could be as simple as you just going ahead and sending the message, hitting send on the text, send on the email.

It's you picking up the phone and making the call, asking the question.

Or maybe it's you finally trying out for the team, applying for the new job, doing the thing that in the back of your mind you think there's no way, there's no possible way.

But yeah, with this new mindset of living with reckless optimism, you are taking action as if it is going to work out.

So when you start living with reckless optimism, you get to start acting as a person who is optimistic.

You get to start acting as the winner before you've ever won the game.

And my friend, you have to wonder in the big picture of life, is that not what makes a true winner?

It's not actually the score at the end of the game, but who played the game full out the whole time?

Who showed up as their best?

Who showed up with integrity?

Who showed up living it out like they want to be?

My friend, that's what it's all about.

What happens at the end of the game?

Well, that's yet to be seen.

But what we can control is how we show up right now, how we run this play.

If you show up as your best, if you run the play, go out for the pass, knowing that you're going to catch the ball and score the touchdown, my friend, chances are you will.

You will succeed.

You will get the touchdown.

So, to wrap up today's episode, this idea of living with reckless optimism, I want you to remember this.

Starting today, right now, I want you to say what you mean.

I want you to believe what you believe.

I want you to want what you want.

If you have dreams, make them bigger.

Because quite possibly your dreams aren't big enough.

If you have goals, they're probably not big enough.

Make them bigger.

And be proud of the dreams that you have.

Be proud of the goals that you have.

Chase after them.

Believe in them.

Believe in yourself and believe in the hope that tomorrow can be a better day.

That tomorrow all things can work out.

My friend, I'm saying that as much to you as I am myself, as a reminder to me that, hey, you know what?

Things are gonna work out.

All those dreams that I have, they are gonna come true.

And I'm gonna be sure that every moment of my life is spent as if they are, pursuing them, chasing after them, doing what I can to be sure that I'm making the very most out of this life.

Because, friend, every day is an absolute gift.

It's a blessing.

Every moment, every second, every chance we have can be taken from us in the blink of an eye.

I shared a very personal story just a couple of weeks ago here on the podcast of how real this is.

Please take it from me, take it from that episode, that we only get one shot at this life.

There's only one today.

Let's make it count.

Let's start living with reckless optimism.

My friend, if you've enjoyed today's episode, please consider sharing it with somebody you love, somebody who you feel can use a boost in their day.

And hey, if you are so inclined to do me the favor, just remember that outside of the podcast studio, I am also an inspirational public speaker.

So if you belong to an organization, maybe it's a church, maybe it's a company, maybe an association, and you guys have an upcoming meeting and you are looking for an inspirational speaker, somebody who can move your audience, can get people fired up and excited about life again.

Well, my friend, consider reaching out, learning more about me, all by checking out my website, kevinspeaks.org.

Again, that website is kevinspeaks.org.

Until next time, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this, of course, is grit, grace, and inspiration.

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