Why High Achievers Need the Right Kind of Wrong
🎧🎧 Listen to Sunday Sunshine HERE 🎧🎧
Think about your worst-case scenario. Then think about the double bagel.
When Amanda Anisimova walked onto center court at Wimbledon for the women's finals, losing was her worst-case scenario.
She didn't just lose—she was swept 6-0, 6-0 in 57 minutes without winning a single game. What's called a "double bagel" that's happened only twice before in the tournament's century-long history.
But watch what happens next. Through tears, Amanda thanked everyone with such grace that disappointment transformed into admiration. She turned her worst moment into a masterclass in resilience.
What if your worst-case scenario is the fuel for your next breakthrough?
We high achievers have trained ourselves to anticipate problems. It's partly why we succeed.
But when worst-case scenario thinking becomes the default, it creates a different kind of failure.
Decision paralysis replaces bold action
Energy flows toward imaginary damage control instead of real growth
Risk tolerance artificially shrinks, causing you to pass on opportunities where the upside far outweighs the realistic downside
Micromanagement replaces trust in your team
Mental exhaustion from fighting battles that exist only in your mind
Your nervous system can't tell the difference between real and imagined threats.
You burn out not from actual crises, but from the stress of disasters that never materialize.
I was a card-carrying worst-case scenario thinker when I was in corporate. I made more decisions every day from thinking:
-->That I’d get fired every day.
-->That people would be mad at me.
-->That I wasn’t capable.
-->That I’d be discovered for not ‘being good enough.’
The next time you catch yourself saying:
"That won't work.”
"I can't do that.”
“I’ve tried that before.”
“That might cause everything to crumble," pause and ask:
What small risk could I take right now to test if there's another possibility, opportunity or outcome?
I'm not suggesting you recklessly gamble with your business or career-but that's where your mind goes to as it's wired for survival. I'm inviting you to consider intelligent experimentation—what some call "the right kind of wrong."
A year ago, I launched a program that I publicized across the channels for something that was important to me, but it was a risk. Would it work? Well, it didn't work. Not enough sign-ups. Although I was initially disappointed, everywhere I went people were talking about how they saw me on social and how amazing that event looked! That moment reminded me how important it is to own your value and redefine success—even when outcomes fall short. It never happened yet it raised my visibility and credibility. That's the right kind of wrong.
Design Your Failures
Instead of avoiding failure, start designing it. I know this may seem 'trite' or what you read on the socials, but it is a proven performance enhancer.
Create small, controlled experiments that give you data regardless of outcome:
Test a new approach with one client before rolling it out company-wide
Delegate one significant task to see if your team rises to the challenge
Say no to one "good" opportunity to create space for a potentially great one
Share an idea you've been sitting on to gauge market response
Think about how a baby learns to walk. They don't avoid falling—they use each fall as information for the next attempt. A baby’s fall isn't failure; it's progress toward mastery.
AND, when they fall, we don’t judge them for falling. We know it’s a part of the process. [Read that again. People are not judging you!]
Intelligent Failures
Your capacity for intelligent failure directly correlates to your capacity for breakthrough success.
You are capable of so much. Research suggests that we only scratch the surface of our capabilities.
Your ultimate capacity can only be achieved by utilizing your current abilities to learn, experiment, and push yourself to grow and change.
You don’t know what you are truly capable of until you try, try, and try again.
What does building your capacity look like this week?
Your Next Move
Stop asking "What if this fails?"
Start asking, "What if this works better than I imagined?"
Take one risk this week.
Not because you're guaranteed to succeed, but because you're guaranteed to learn and raise your capacity.
Learning always moves you closer to your goal—even when the outcome isn't what you expected.
The most successful people aren't those who never fail. They're those who fail forward faster than everyone else.
What's your next intelligent experiment?
📓 Journal Prompts for the Week Ahead
I know I'm at my best when....
I am willing to create my future because...and when I do...
I am capable of...
I am building my capacity by...and to...
ChatGPT's image of me after I fed it my goals. Pre-cancer I had long dark hair.
