The Power of Thinking What if

what if i had been kinder to that person

would they have turned out the same what

if i chose this

instead where would i be now what if i

don’t get into this college

what if i ruin my chance these are all

examples of what i call the what-if

mindset

it’s a process of thinking we have where

we imagine outcomes of the future

or dwell on regrets of the past it just

takes one what if

and we think of them more often than we

let on thoughts like

what if i had done this differently or

what if this will happen

they can be as simple as wanting to

change a spoken word

or as big as wanting to change a life

decision

these thoughts are often negative but to

change this way of thinking

we first have to understand why we do it

i know that in my case i’m an indecisive

person

i want to make the right decision in the

moment so i’ll limit the regrets i’ll

have looking back

this sounds good but most of the time i

won’t choose anything by doing this

which in most cases can be worse than

making the wrong decision

i saw the indecisiveness and doubt in

myself but now that i see my flaws i’m

able to accept them

and be more decisive because of it to

break it down

wide of thinking can be sorted into

positives and negatives

negative what-ifs can be things we wish

we could have changed like a past

opportunity we think about what we could

have done

saying if i had just done this

everything would be so much better

when really it probably wouldn’t have

been

you may say what’s wrong with thinking

what if about the past

the thing is it’s so easy to do

and the more you do it the more you take

away from today

and tomorrow the solution is really

simple

you have to accept that the past is gone

so leave it where it is

if you made a bad decision there’s

nothing you can do now but learn from it

we forget that we should make mistakes

but remember that they’re a part of who

we are

if you worry if you get stressed it

won’t get you anywhere

if anything it prevents you from doing

well i know that for me

i’m a high jumper on my track team some

days i’ll jump higher than i ever have

but then the next meet i’ll fail to

clear even the lowest height

when i don’t get the easy heights it

messes with me

i mean i know more than anyone that i

can’t change my past jumps

but this is so hard to remember when i’m

standing there

staring at the bar knowing i only have

one attempt left because i know i messed

up the last two

after working at highjump for years i’ve

learned something really valuable

you have to have a strong mind that can

set aside your frustration

so you can just focus on the next jump

because really

that’s what must happen after you fail

you learn

you grow and then you just focus on the

next jump

what about the what-ifs of the future

things like

what if i don’t get this grade on my

test or what if this will happen

in my experience the thing that’s so

terrifying about the future

is that you have no idea what it holds

but even with this

there’s a blessing of the future that

the past can never have

and it’s that you can change it the past

is gone

but what you do in the future can and

will change your life

it’s really all up to you i mean you

don’t have to have everything figured

out

you think at 15 i do i mean no

really failing isn’t the worst outcome

if anything the worst thing is being

afraid to fail because once you do that

you can never change or get a different

outcome

while making this talk i’ve noticed that

we have the wrong idea about the what-if

mindset

see we think we think our what-ifs limit

us

but that’s just not true really we limit

ourselves

we choose to worry over our mistakes we

choose to worry about future risks that

might not even happen

but with all this about regrets and

fears it’s hard to remember

that what-ifs can be a good thing what

if i succeeded

what if i made a difference it’s a lot

easier to think about the negative

rather than the positive

it’s just in our nature to doubt and be

prepared

but though the negative what ifs limits

you the positive what ifs

can give you hope when you catch

yourself thinking the worst what ifs

try and flip them to the helpful side

turn

what if i miss that opportunity into

what if there’s a better one

turn the future fear of what if i get

rejected

into what if i get accepted

i’ve learned that if there’s no what if

there’s no risk

if you let the risks of the future limit

you they’re just going to become regrets

of the past you want to change

i mean there will be regrets of the past

but leave them there

though the future is unknown our fear

isn’t always bad

fear lets you know when the what-ifs are

near but it’s only your choice

whether to make them positive or not

thank you

you