Rewiring Your Mind From Worst-Case to Best-Case Thinking
Weekly Dose of Work Recovery Vol. 11.12.25
“If you can picture everything going wrong, you can just as powerfully picture everything going right. One vision drains you. The other frees you.”
Real talk: Have you ever drafted your resignation letter and kept it tucked away — just in case?
Maybe you didn’t send it, but you rehearsed it. I know I have. Maybe you're like me and you even knew exactly what you’d say when things finally reached the breaking point. You’d already decided how it would end without allowing it to unfold.
It’s such a human thing to do. We've build a habit of bracing or planning for pain and impact before it even comes. We imagine worst-case outcomes as a way to protect ourselves, telling ourselves it helps to feel prepared.
But what we’re really doing is teaching our nervous system to expect disappointment. While worst case preparation is a healthy skill, most people devote no time or energy to best case scenario or How Good Can It Get?!
Here’s what I’ve learned: if we can imagine everything going wrong, we can just as easily imagine everything going right.
What if the meeting goes better than expected?
What if a courageous conversation opens a new door?
What if the outcome you’re dreading is actually opening something better?
What if sharing honestly and vulnerably changes everything for good?
That’s what my podcast How Good Can It Get? is all about — the moment we choose to picture best-case outcomes with as much detail and emotion and energy as we give the worst ones. It’s not about blind optimism.
It’s about reclaiming our imagination from fear.
If you’re bracing yourself today for a hard talk, a big change, or an uncertain season, take a pause. And a deep breath. And ask yourself: How good can it get? What would it feel like? What cool things might happen if I believed only good could come from it?
Because if we can picture everything falling apart, we can also practice picturing it falling into place. And sometimes, that’s all it takes to consider the situation from a balanced perspective.
The shift empowers us to flip the default script and summon deep courage, not from fear, but also from faith in what’s still possible if we speak up and change the course for the better.
— Bree
P.S. If this year felt like an undesired gut punch to your goals, I'm working on a LIVE workshop Your 2026 Soul Goal Reset to help you identify the most aligned soul goals for 2026. Thank goodness 2025 is almost in the rearview because I'm a different person than NYE 2024 me 😂 If you want to uncover your own aligned, soul goals, join the Soul Goal Session waitlist here to hold your spot for this free Executive Unschool workshop.
This Week's Did You Know? Is Your Therapist Silently Eye Rolling…
If you tell your therapist, “I don't want to take up too much time” or “this is probably stupid” before launching in, he or she may be cringing on the inside. According to this survey, there are nine common refrains that they hear all the time and wish you would stop saying. Most notable is asking them what to do. You're in the driver's seat, so drive on 😎
Source: What Not to Say to Your Therapist, Time
Links & Resources We Love Right Now
A listen: Florence & the Machine dropped an album that is mystical, magical and all things empowerment. Scream from the top of your lungs!
A learn: Many women are using AI-chatbots or career tools to help with salary, annual increases, and benefit negotiation prep but several tools are giving lower-salary advice to women. As if misogynistic bosses weren't enough to deal with? 😑
A shoutout: She showed off this week! The Aurora Borealis was in all her glory. If you caught her dance, share your photos with me by replying. My fav photo is below 🤩
Something I love: These four ingredient peanut butter chocolate energy bites are just what I need when I've got back to back to back client meetings. Easy meets yum.
