Rational Optimism (Build Something Big)

"Don't partner with cynics and pessimists Their beliefs are self-fulfilling" Essentially to create things you have to be a rational optimist Rational in the sense that you have to really See the world for what it really is And yet you have to be optimistic about your own capabilities And your capability to get things done We all know people who are consistently pessimistic Who will shoot down everything Everyone in their life was like the helpful critical guy Right He thinks he's being helpful but he's actually Being critical and he's a downer on everything That person will not only never do anything great in their lives They'll prevent other people around them from doing something great They think their job is to shoot holes in things And it's OK to shoot holes and things as long As you come up with a solution There is also the classic military line "either lead, Follow or get out of the way." These people want a fourth option But they don't want to lead They don't want to follow But they don't want to get out the way They want to tell you why the things not going to work And all the really successful people I know have a very strong action bias They just do things The easiest way to figure out if something is viable Or not is by doing it So, if you want to be successful in life creating wealth Or having good relationships Or even being happy You need to have an action bias towards getting what you want And you have to be optimistic about it You got one life on this planet Why not try to build something big You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big This is the beauty of Elon Musk And why I think he inspires so many people He takes on really-really big audacious tasks And he provides an example for people to think big Think big And it takes a lot of work to build even small things I don't think the corner grocery store owner Is working any less hard than Elon Musk Or pouring any less sweat and toil into it Maybe even more But for whatever reason you know education circumstance They didn't get the chance to think as big So, the outcome is not as big So, its just better to think Obviously rationally within means, stay optimistic The cynics and the pessimist What they're really saying They're basically saying I've given up I don't think I can do anything And so, the world to me Looks like a world where nobody can do anything And so why should you go do something Because if you fail Then I'm right which is great But if you succeed it just makes me look bad You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big This is the beauty of Elon Musk I'd rather be optimistic and wrong Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right I'd rather be optimistic and wrong Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right There is a completely rational frame On why you should be an optimist Historically if you go back 2,000 years 5000 years 10,000 years Two people run into the jungle they hear a Tiger One's an optimist who said, "Oh it's not headed our way." The other one says "I'm the pessimist I'm out of here" And the pessimist runs and survive And the optimist gets eaten So, we're descended from pessimists We're genetically hardwired to be pessimists But modern society is far-far safer There are no tigers wandering down the street It's very unlikely that you will end up in total ruin Although you should avoid total ruin You're much more likely The upside is unlimited than the downside is limited Adapting for modern society means overriding your pessimism And taking slightly irrationally optimistic bets Because the upside is unlimited If you start the next SpaceX, Tesla or Uber You can make billions of dollars of value for society And for yourself And change the world And if you fail what's a big deal You lost a few million dollars in investor money And they've got plenty more and that's the bet they take On the chances that you will succeed It makes sense to be pessimistic in the past It makes sense to be optimistic today especially If you're educated and living in a first world country The one thing you have to avoid is the risk of ruin Ruin means to stay out of jail So, don't do anything that's illegal Stay out of total catastrophic loss Stay out of things that can be physically dangerous Hurting your body You have to watch your health And stay out of things that can cause you to lose all of Your capital all of your savings So, don't gamble everything at one go You take rationally optimistic bets with big upside You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big You got one life on this planet why not try to build something big This is the beauty of Elon Musk I'd rather be optimistic and wrong Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right I'd rather be optimistic and wrong Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right Than pessimistic and right Silicons Valley has learned The upside is so great that you never look down on The sloppy kid who is wearing a hoody And has coffee at his shoes And look like a slob Because you don't know if he's gonna be the next Mark Zuckerberg Or the next Reid Hoffman You've got to treat everybody with respect You gotta look up to every possibility and opportunity Because the upside is so unlimited and The downside is so limited in the modern world