Jumping to Conclusions Part ll: Fortune Telling

I jumped to the conclusion that I would never be a lifeguard, simply because it was a long process and I couldn’t imagine being good enough. (see Slow and Steady Wins the Race.) In gymnastics I told myself I couldn’t do new skills–before I even tried them.

“I don’t run well in the rain. I’m gonna do badly in this race.” “My novel is never going to get published.” I don’t think all the usual questions work in this instance, but let’s give it a whirl.
1) What is the evidence? None. Because the future hasn’t happened yet. There, that was easy. Ok, I’ll flesh it out a little more.

Even if you’ve had bad times in the rain perhaps you have worked on this element (pun intended); or maybe today will go better because you’re going to allow yourself to think that it might. Yes, it’s a huge challenge to get a novel published. You can remind yourself that many famous authors had many rejections before their novel got published. And many publishing houses regret they turned them down. You can fantasize about that if it makes you feel better.

2) What are alternative explanations: None necessary. You can’t predict the future.

3) What are the implications? None. You can’t predict the future. Case closed.

Another antidote: Remind yourself to know what you don’t know. Unless you have a unique spiritual gift you cannot predict the future. You don’t know how you ran your race until you’ve run it. You don’t know how many publishers you may have to approach before you find one that bites.