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- 🧠The universe rewards delusional optimists
Your time on Earth is limited. Spend more time being your hot and hilarious self and less time comparing yourself to strangers on the internet.
Announcement: I’m finalizing my speaking calendar for 2026. This past year I delivered 40+ keynotes for organizations like the NFL, Meta, Nespresso, Mattel, leading conferences like Veecon, and events presented by Nike & Chase Bank.
If you’re interested in having me speak about the science and soul of optimism at your event this year, visit this page. Thank you!
THREE mindsets to help you reflect, rebel, and reinvent…
1. The universe rewards delusional optimists (neuroscience proves it).
Optimists visualize the future they want BEFORE they think about what’s in the way.
What you visualize FIRST - the dream or the obstacles - determines if it comes true. The order matters.
Studies on students, job seekers, and dieters found the same thing: people who dream first and plan second achieve their goals at dramatically higher rates than planning first.[1]
Picture obstacles first → your brain treats them as reasons to quit.
Picture success first → your brain treats obstacles as problems to solve.
It’s not: "Here's everything in the way. Should I even try?" It’s: "Here's where I'm going. Now, what's in the way?"
Be delusional about the destination. Be realistic about the path. In that order.
The most powerful thing you can do is let yourself be delusional about a future that doesn't exist yet.
2. The power of reinvention
The purpose of life is to reinvent yourself as many times as you need. Not because you can't commit, but because the purpose of life is change - constant change until you derive enough wisdom to look at yourself and say: yes, this is it.
People warn: "But what about everything you've already built?" That question is a trap. It assumes commitment equals success, that picking one path at 22 and white-knuckling it until 65 is the marker of a life well-lived.
But what if starting over isn't failure? What if it's intelligence?
The Mills Longitudinal Study followed 120 women for 50 years and found it's never too late to reinvent yourself. Even at age 60, women showed substantial positive personality change. They looked in the mirror and said, "Actually, no. I want to be someone else." And they did it. This destroys the myth that your personality is fixed, that reinvention is a young person's game.
The Social Identity Model of Identity Change studied people going through major life transitions and found that the more versions of yourself you've been, the easier it is to become the next one. Every time you reinvent yourself, you're adding another layer of psychological resilience. You're proving that identity is flexible, not fixed.
So here's the philosophy: Starting over isn't running away. It's running toward. Toward peace, love, happiness, clarity.
The version of you that built what you currently have isn't the same person who needs to live in it. You change. Your values shift. And reinvention isn't starting over - it's leveling up. Every version of yourself was preparation for the next one.
3. FIVE changes to make this year
Never underestimate how taking yourself on a solo trip can change your life for the better.
Never underestimate how giving yourself a second chance can change your life for the better.
Never underestimate how saying yes to something wildly out of your comfort zone can change your life for the better.
Never underestimate how speaking kindly to yourself after a lifetime of self-criticism can change your life for the better.
Never underestimate how trusting your gut over other people’s opinions can change your life for the better.
Some things I’m excited about…
The podcast!
All of my writing and thoughts come from my podcast. It’s completely free and I release new, short (less than 20 minutes) episodes every Monday and Thursday. Listen here.
FREE audiobook
If you have Spotify Premium and you’re in the US, you can listen to the audiobook version of “The Opposite of Settling” for FREE. Just click here.
Reminder…
The reason you’re alive is to chase dreams that seem crazy to most people but feel like destiny to you.
That’s it for today. See you next time.
- Case Kenny
