The things that happen are the things that you expect. If you expect your day to go well, it will go quite well. If you expect your day to suck, it will suck. Of course there are circumstances you have no control over. On your way to work you could end up in a car accident. The accident could make you late to work. You could miss a meeting as a result of being late. For the rest of the day you might wind up behind schedule and end up spending an extra hour or two at work catching up. After driving home in your busted car you might arrive and discover that there is a blackout. Given all of these circumstances, if you started the day expecting to have a good day, you would still have a good day. Let’s dive deeper…

Consider how positive Larry handles this day. After waking up he engages in his morning routine, which includes taking a few minutes to visualize his day. In Larry’s vision, the day goes well. He’s feeling inspired. His posture is that of a confident man. He wears clothing that makes him feel attractive, yet professional. He has good interactions with friends, co-workers, and his boss. He has a productive day and is pleased when he gets home. After concluding this vision for his day, Larry grabs a cup of coffee and gets in his car. 

On his drive to work a malfunctioning traffic light switches immediately from green to red. Larry aggressively stops his car, avoiding what would be a very rough accident in the intersection. Before he can have a sigh of relief he is rear ended. His car moves slightly forward but he doesn’t get hurt, in fact, he barely felt the accident. Having started the day in a very good mood, Larry is now in a more moderate mood. He’s not so happy but he’s not angry either. As he gets out of his car to converse with the driver that hit him, he notices that the other car has a carseat in the back seat. He immediately inquires and learns that the baby is okay. Larry is now relieved and the sensation actually improves his mood. The other driver hadn’t been tailgating, there just wasn’t enough time to stop when the light changed. The two men exchange insurance information while waiting for the police to arrive. Extending an olive branch, Larry strikes up a conversation and the two men discover a shared interest in football and actually form a bond. 

Larry arrives late to work and completely misses his first meeting. He is actually grateful as he finds the morning meetings to be redundant and unnecessary. An accident that wasn’t his fault was the perfect excuse for missing what he considers to be a fruitless use of time. He is now behind schedule and will stay an extra two hours at work to catch up. He doesn’t like the idea, but rather than focus on the fact that he has to stay late, he focuses on the fact that the baby in the carseat was unharmed that morning. Staying in a more positive mood, Larry is able to have a more productive day and only needs to stay an extra hour at work. As he drives home in his busted car, he realizes that he could’ve been in a much nastier accident in the intersection. He could’ve spent the day, or days, or weeks in the hospital. With this knowledge Larry has deep feelings of appreciation and acknowledges that it was a good day.

The things we expect are the things that happen. Most of us want to have good days but many of us don’t expect to have it. We assume that since yesterday sucked, today will suck as well. The thing is, yesterday didn’t have to suck and neither does today. The day you have is a result of your expectation.

Here’s a life hack. It’s quite scary how well it works. Assume that everyone you interact with throughout the day has been admiring something about you. Assume that they’ve been saying good things about you. As you initiate conversations with these people, just smile and say, “Hey how are you?” Your day will go very well.

-Mike Humphreys