When you’re starting a project is it better to think you’re going to fail or win?

When you’re starting a project is it better for your health/mind to think you’re going to fail or win?

Why not neither?

Here's the thing: Why would it matter?

• If success is the amount of money you'd like to earn ($1k MRR? $5k? $10k?): Does it change the process or the work you'll have to put in?
• If it's the effort you're consistently dedicating to something: Are you then not already successful if you're doing the work?
• If it's that multi-million dollar exit strategy you're dreaming of: ...What are you doing with your life, and why are you putting so much unrealistic pressure on yourself?
• In all of the possible cases, what would pondering "winning or losing" contribute to your result versus focusing on the work that needs to be done? Which one do you think will most likely lead to that "winning" you talk about?

I'm not saying earning $x (however much you'd like to earn) is impossible, I don't want to discourage you. But to start practicing a new sport and immediately expect to end up at the Olympics would be called delusional (and rightly so).

I'll admit: this analogy isn't exactly the right one. I think you have a much higher chance of being successful with business, and getting to the Olympics would be a matter of having the right body. But the message is the same.

Do things, and keep doing things, but don't think it's about putting an endless amount of mental pressure on yourself by "thinking like a winner" because that's bullshit. Train habits, consistency, and discipline instead.

My advice: learn to learn from the process and you'll consistently win, even if that doesn't mean you'll earn a million dollars each time. Success is the result of your combined efforts, not the result of how hard you dreamed about it or wished for it.

And I think you'll have a happier, healthier life if you think this way.

Tesla technically still hasn't succeeded.

My working model of the world is:
"You can win and you probably won't. "

For me it balances optimism/realism. You can win, which is why you try. The math says you probably won't, so no need to feel disappointed. There's nothing to recover from. Thinking about "can/probably won't" also aligns my thinking around "well... why wouldn't I? What are the things that I'm doing or that are going on that would be the causes of winding up on the 90% side?" and ferret out those things and course correct to wind up on the 10% win side.

It's staring reality in the face and meeting it head on. You need the optimism to try. You need the realism to try and not lose.

– James Tayler

You gotta go with the WIN mentality in each of your 1000 experiments.

Just account for the worst (waste of time and resources), but definitely hope for the best!

You might find Adam Grant's answer interesting:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/give-and-take/201310/the-positive-power-negative-thinking

...as the title says: "The Positive Power of Negative Thinking"

Two techniques:

1. Collect failures - try to achieve 100 refusals as fast as you can. It helps do not loose the pace. You will get at least a couple of sales on the way.
2. Reach for the gold and never settle for silver. Thinking about failure is not champions mentality. Failing after putting all your efforts is as good as winning.

I think being an absolute realist is the best for health/mind/success everything. Hoping is only a convenient source of motivation but if it prevents you from acknowledging real world obstacles or your real world shortcomings then it's not doing you any favours. Similarly being too pessimistic by definition is preventing you from seeing the landscape clearly.

I do think that the big things that pretty much every project needs is intensity, vision and a lack of ego. But those don't intrinsicly require being overly positive or negative.

I guess it depends on what you mean by wining. I think if you come to the mindset that you will learning something from every project then its not a total failure. You might not make any money but at least you are learning - like new tech, patterns, marketing etc.

Depends on how you define winning!

Yes it's important to think about success and failure, but without a a concrete way to measure things it doesn't really matter.

Go with win - every time.

If you think you’ll fail - you will. Every time.

I think that if you will think that you will fail, you might be not as dedicated to the project as you should. It is better to go for 90/10 mentality (adjust that to your actual experience levels). So you assume 90% of failure chance and 10% in winning. This will allow you to not think what you will do with the millions you will make soon, yet keep focused on the business as there is a chance to be a winner.
Obviously everyone is different, so it is best that you pick a method that you think work best for you!

Fail, with a negative profit. This helps with financial planning.