How to Play Life with House Money

A Praxis participant recently asked what to do if you feel you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to succeed.

This isn’t the only or full answer, but the first thing that came to mind was this pressure-relieving technique that unleashes “self two” (to borrow from the book The Inner Game of Tennis) to achieve without desperation:

First I make my peace with failure. I envision and accept the worst possible outcome until I feel fine about it.

Then I push myself to achieve the best possible outcome with everything I’ve got, never satisfied.

Feels like playing with house money. I can be relentlessly discontent with anything less than perfection while already having made my peace with failure.