There's a temptation most driven people share.

If you just plan well enough, execute precisely enough, and stay disciplined long enough, you can own the outcome. You've even seen it work. You did one thing, it caused a good result, and your brain filed it away as proof: control is possible if you just try hard enough.

That cause and effect felt good. But it also created a false belief.

Oliver Burkeman addressed this directly in his book Four Thousand Weeks. He argued that the day when you finally have everything under control is never coming. The to-do list never stops growing. The fully optimized version of you never arrives. His advice: admit defeat now.

That's hard to read. Especially if you're the kind of person who believes effort is the answer to everything.

But here's what I want you to sit with. That same truth that stings a little should also feel liberating. Because if you can't control everything, no matter how hard you try, then you can stop carrying the weight of outcomes that were never fully yours to own in the first place.

Do the work. Do it with everything you have. Give yourself the grace to be human when it doesn't go perfectly. Then lie your head down at night, proud of the effort, not haunted by the outcome.

You were never the puppet master, and if you keep trying to be, you will drive the outcome you want further away. If that weren’t enough, you will drive the people you want to be with you further away as well.

And the sooner you accept that, the freer you'll be to focus on what you actually can control: your attitude, your effort, and your outlook.

P.S. The Optimistic Outlook is a Podcast! Leaving a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts would mean a lot.