My secret to being optimistic 99% of the time.
Hint: It's a mental model.
👋 Hey, it’s Orel here! Welcome to my weekly newsletter where I share my journey and lessons as a solopreneur who quit his 6 figures job to chase his dreams.
I develop crazy fast at a very high level. PM me if you have an idea for your next $1M dollar SaaS. I’ll take care of the rest.
I also publish Tech Books summaries along with Anton Zaides.
7 weeks ago I took a break from writing and working. I went on a 30-days trip to Asia with my girlfriend.
And between you and me, I didn’t feel like I deserved any break.
It is the morning of the flight. I am sitting on my black gaming chair, staring at my laptop and listening to Taylor Swift. To my left is a window the points to a few trees in the shade and the sun in the far distance.
As I sit with my deep guilt and fear of the unknown, feeling like I broke a secret pact I made with myself, I stopped and thought: “What is the worst case of this trip?”
I started that year, thinking to myself that I am going to make at least a million dollars by the end of it.
And, well, I didn’t make a buck.
What is the worst case?
This is the strongest tool I have in my toolbox. It helps me deal with many unknowns in my life and be optimistic most of the time.
The day I started my full-time solopreneurship journey, I didn’t know it was going to happen.
For weeks I was wondering whether I should or should not take this huge step, drop everything and chase my dreams.
It was one afternoon at my previous job, after a lunch break. Summer, people are sitting in front of their computer with shorts and flip flops. I’m with my long, black jeans, a black t-shirt and sports shoes.
I feel nervous. My heart rate at least 120 and my palms are sweaty. All I can think about is that I want to take the step right away, get up off my chair, walk to my team leader’s office and tell him: “I quit”, just like every cheesy movie does.
As I sit there, all I can think about is what will I do next? How can I quit such a comfortable, 6 figures job for something that I am not sure is even there.
Then it suddenly hit me. It was like one of those moments in the books that the main character just goes on some dangerous adventure without considering the risks.
The only difference is that I did consider them. More than a dozen times in the last few weeks I thought “What’s the worst case?”.
And I came up with the same answer, every time: “I fail and spend all the money I saved in the last few years”.
Can I mitigate the worst case?
Now, here comes the best part. The mitigation
In the stage you figure out ways to make that worst case not look as bad, and sometimes even good.
In the story, the worst case is failing and spending all the money I saved.
Is it that bad? Not really. I will have learned so many new skills and become a much better developer, entrepreneur and perhaps leader. Money well spent.
Can I mitigate it? Yes. I can always go back to work as a software developer, work on the business on weekends and save money for the next try.
What if you have kids by then? It will take longer, but people have succeeded with far worse conditions.
What if you don’t find a job? Good question. I should perhaps build a freelance side-hustle path while I am building new products, so I can always have something to rely on. Maybe even my own agency.
And so on.
By mitigating and reframing every worst case scenario, you pull the venom out of those thoughts and they no longer pose any threat to you.
In other words, you eliminate the negativity and fear.
Final words
Now it’s your turn.
Think about something you’re afraid of. Something that keeps you up at night. Then apply the worst-case mental model and see where it takes you.
wrote about the Margin of Safety Mental Model in his newsletter.What I enjoyed reading this week
The "HOLY SH*T" moment hack no marketer is using 👨🏻💻 by
- Another marketing gem to use in your products. Best social proof trick you can find.How Facebook Was Able to Support a Billion Users via Software Load Balancer ⚡ by
- I have recently started reading Neo’s articles, and they are fantastic. Neo brings you the exact knowledge that you want, without the fluff.The One Mental Model That Transformed My Business Decisions by
- Talking about mental models, Anfernee shared his take on a great mental model that he uses.
Great advice to solopreneurs out there.
And thanks for the mention 🙏🏻