434: Living with Reckless Optimism: The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything When You Stop Being “Realistic”

Kevin Lowe: Hell yeah, that's easier said than done.

Kevin Lowe: But my friend.

Kevin Lowe: Today we're talking about the life-changing impact that it can have on your life. to not just be optimistic, but instead to begin adopting a mindset of reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: It's all inside of today's 434th episode of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Kevin Lowe: Somewhere along the way, whether it was in school or maybe at home by our parents, we were taught to be realistic.

Kevin Lowe: Realistic about our dreams.

Kevin Lowe: About our expectations, our goals, our beliefs.

Kevin Lowe: Everybody told us to be realistic because the things that we talked about were fantasy, Things that would never come true. And honestly, if we want to be truthful.

Kevin Lowe: We probably still wrestle with this as adults.

Kevin Lowe: And maybe it's not other people telling us to be realistic, but rather it's ourselves telling us to be realistic. Because let's face it, How many times.

Kevin Lowe: Do you catch yourself daydreaming about What you want to.

Kevin Lowe: Do when you grow up?

Kevin Lowe: Only to then.

Kevin Lowe: Have this realization hit you, What do you mean when I grow up? Kev, I'm already grown I'm too old to think about starting over I'm too old to think about Something new Or are you? Or am I?

Kevin Lowe: Maybe this idea of being realistic about our dreams is the worst piece of advice we were ever given.

Kevin Lowe: One of the best analogies I heard in terms of this idea of being realistic is some people call it being an adult, Being mature.

Kevin Lowe: But in reality, it's just fear dressed up as wisdom.

Kevin Lowe: Today, we're skipping past all of that. And we are.

Kevin Lowe: Focusing on not just being optimistic about life, but instead we're focused on what can happen in your life if You start living with what.

Kevin Lowe: I'm calling reckless optimism. Now, where I was inspired by this topic was on another podcast I was listening to.

Kevin Lowe: And in that podcast, I forget if it was the host.

Kevin Lowe: Or the guest, was talking about a chapter in his life where he actually found himself in prison.

Kevin Lowe: And I don't remember the details of the story, But what hit me hard was.

Kevin Lowe: The fact that While he was there in a jail cell, when you could say all hope could be lost.

Kevin Lowe: He was being forced to leave the life that he'd created. He was being sent back to his home country.

Kevin Lowe: And yet in that situation, in all that doom and gloom.

Kevin Lowe: He made one pivotal decision to live with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: He started believing that things were going to work out. He knew they would work out. He knew that.

Kevin Lowe: Things were going to be better from here on out.

Kevin Lowe: And his life.

Kevin Lowe: Completely changed because he decided in that moment, In the midst of despair, that he would begin living, no matter the outcome.

Kevin Lowe: With reckless optimism. Reckless optimism, as I said, it's not being naive. It's being defiant.

Kevin Lowe: It's you deciding to live as if you know things will work out.

Kevin Lowe: You know that you're not behind. You're right where you're meant to be.

Kevin Lowe: It's you living as if your story is not over.

Kevin Lowe: And quite honestly, the best chapters of your story have yet to be written.

Kevin Lowe: Before we really get into the meat and potatoes.

Kevin Lowe: Exploring this idea of reckless optimism, I Want to be sure.

Kevin Lowe: That we are on the same page. So let us start by explaining to you what reckless optimism is not.

Kevin Lowe: It is not this idea of ignoring reality.

Kevin Lowe: It's not pretending that life doesn't hurt or it's not acting like life isn't difficult.

Kevin Lowe: It is definitely not that term of toxic positivity.

Kevin Lowe: Instead, reckless optimism, in my opinion, the way that I'm defining it, is choosing belief without guarantees.

Kevin Lowe: It's you waking up in the morning knowing in your heart, in your head, in your soul that things are going to.

Kevin Lowe: Work out today, that today is going to be an awesome day.

Kevin Lowe: And it doesn't.

Kevin Lowe: Matter if you can see the path ahead or not.

Kevin Lowe: You know it to be true.

Kevin Lowe: It doesn't matter if you wake up In the morning.

Kevin Lowe: And the weather is dark and gloomy. And it doesn't matter if the people who you do life with are In a bad mood. You know that it's all going to work out.

Kevin Lowe: That it's all going to be okay. You know that you've been knocked down before, that you've faced setbacks.

Kevin Lowe: But none of that.

Kevin Lowe: Matters because today it all changes.

Kevin Lowe: Today, the odds are in your favor or in my favor.

Kevin Lowe: And together, we can start tackling life, achieving the stuff we want, because we are deciding to live with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: This idea that no matter our circumstance.

Kevin Lowe: No matter where we are, no matter how hard things may feel, We believe because we know things are going to work out.

Kevin Lowe: There has to be brighter days ahead. This can't be all that there is.

Kevin Lowe: The book is not finished until it's finished.

Kevin Lowe: And until it is finished, we hold the pin.

Kevin Lowe: We are the author of our own story. So let us choose to live it fully with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: So now, as good as all of that sounds, as easy as all of that sounds to do, to implement, to start living with reckless optimism, Why is it that so many people aren't living this way?

Kevin Lowe: And I'm sure there's many reasons, but one reason that I have to believe is that a lot of people don't lack the courage to do so.

Kevin Lowe: Instead, they lack the permission.

Kevin Lowe: People are afraid to hope because it hurts when it doesn't work out.

Kevin Lowe: When people have a belief and you share it with others, isn't it embarrassing when it doesn't work out the way you thought it would?

Kevin Lowe: And especially a belief, Something that you know wholeheartedly is true, and then it turns out to not work out.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, it can be really difficult. It can be a big blow to your life.

Kevin Lowe: And to be honest, living with optimism, especially reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: The kind of optimism that isn't just contained within yourself, But people around you know it. Well, it makes it vulnerable.

Kevin Lowe: It makes you vulnerable to people's opinions, people voicing their opinion of you.

Kevin Lowe: So instead, what do people choose?

Kevin Lowe: They choose guarded expectations.

Kevin Lowe: They choose to lower their expectations.

Kevin Lowe: They choose to stop dreaming. My friend, let's just do full stop right there.

Kevin Lowe: Stopping dreaming? My friend, that is no way to live.

Kevin Lowe: Not for you, not for me, not for the neighbor next door.

Kevin Lowe: We all need to dream, deserve to dream.

Kevin Lowe: Matter of fact, there was an episode a few episodes ago where I talked all.

Kevin Lowe: About you creating your biggest, Boldest dreams, creating your big dream list, and that being the guide, your north star.

Kevin Lowe: But instead, we put up our guard. We put up that emotional armor.

Kevin Lowe: And we all keep playing small to avoid disappointment.

Kevin Lowe: Now, the truth is, there's moments in our lives when being optimistic, Living with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: It makes zero sense. When you put it on paper, There is nothing to be optimistic about. Kind of like the.

Kevin Lowe: Guy who I told you inspired me to talk about this.

Kevin Lowe: A guy who was locked away.

Kevin Lowe: In a jail cell.

Kevin Lowe: He had been living, I believe his story was that he had been living in America.

Kevin Lowe: And yet, because of a couple of stupid decisions, he was being forced to leave the country, Headed back to Australia. And in those moments.

Kevin Lowe: The safe choice would be to just fall victim to your circumstance, To not be optimistic.

Kevin Lowe: To not have a positive outlook. Maybe for you, it's to shrink the size of your goal, to play it safe, To not shoot for the moon.

Kevin Lowe: But instead just keep your ideas a little bit smaller to stop dreaming quite so big.

Kevin Lowe: But if we do all of that, Then I have to wonder.

Kevin Lowe: What is life even worth?

Kevin Lowe: If we're not able to dream big, if we're not able to have big goals.

Kevin Lowe: To set high expectations for ourselves, for our future, Then my friend.

Kevin Lowe: What are any of us doing?

Kevin Lowe: If a team enters the field for Super Bowl Sunday.

Kevin Lowe: Not expecting to win, Then why the heck did they even show.

Kevin Lowe: Up to the stadium? No, they show up expecting to win, knowing they can win because they know that the positive mindset, the idea that even If the other.

Kevin Lowe: Team is better than them, When they enter the field, they enter the stadium with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, the chances have just increased that They are going to.

Kevin Lowe: Succeed because mindset controls everything.

Kevin Lowe: If you go into it knowing that you're a loser, that you're not good enough.

Kevin Lowe: That you're not strong enough, My friend, chances are you're not going to win. You're not going to win the race.

Kevin Lowe: You're not going to get the raise that you walked into the boss's office asking for.

Kevin Lowe: You're not going to get the promotion. You're not going to get what you want.

Kevin Lowe: Out of life If you have expectations that are low.

Kevin Lowe: If you keep telling yourself that it's not going to work out.

Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, quite possibly.

Kevin Lowe: At that point, You might as well give up.

Kevin Lowe: Instead, today is this idea of living as if it has worked out already.

Kevin Lowe: It is living with reckless optimism, having an optimistic outlook even when the day is glooming.

Kevin Lowe: If you want to get really personal.

Kevin Lowe: For me, to be honest, when I went blind, if I had just succumbed to life as I was told it would be, maybe I never would have discovered the ability to learn how to use echolocation.

Kevin Lowe: If I had just been set and put aside any dreams that I had for something bigger or better, if I had maybe just made My mind up.

Kevin Lowe: That this is how it is, That all I can see is what my hands can touch, that nothing will ever be any different for me.

Kevin Lowe: If I didn't have in the back of my mind This dream of singing.

Kevin Lowe: Again, I believe that I never would have seen again. And yet, my mind was open to new opportunities.

Kevin Lowe: To possibilities.

Kevin Lowe: And I learned that, wait a minute, I can see again just in a whole new way by the use of echolocation.

Kevin Lowe: By This idea of.

Kevin Lowe: Retraining my brain's visual cortex to see through sound.

Kevin Lowe: Now, no, is echolocation like I used to see? Not a chance.

Kevin Lowe: But is it a heck of a lot better than what I had before?

Kevin Lowe: You darn sure bet ya.

Kevin Lowe: I went from a world of absolute nothingness to a world of shapes and objects.

Kevin Lowe: Of sizes and dimension.

Kevin Lowe: Because I have to believe.

Kevin Lowe: Again, It all came.

Kevin Lowe: To be because I was already living with the reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: So, my friend, even if you think to yourself that you're not an optimistic person.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe you're somebody who tends to view the glass as half empty.

Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, I have hope for you because.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to understand That living with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: It's not a personality trait. It's a decision.

Kevin Lowe: This is a choice you make Every single day.

Kevin Lowe: You get to decide this for yourself, to be a person who chooses to live with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: So you don't have to wait to feel hopeful.

Kevin Lowe: You don't have to wish that you were an optimistic person.

Kevin Lowe: You decide to act hopeful before hope shows up, Before there is proof.

Kevin Lowe: Before there is evidence.

Kevin Lowe: You have the hope. You have the belief. You have the optimism.

Kevin Lowe: When you start living like this.

Kevin Lowe: When you start waking up with this mindset, your actions, they follow your expectations.

Kevin Lowe: If you want to have low expectations, then you're going to have a cautious life, a life without goals being achieved, a life where you.

Kevin Lowe: Bunt the ball instead Of hitting a home run. Instead, you start living with high belief.

Kevin Lowe: Then you start taking bold action.

Kevin Lowe: So here's my game plan for you for how you can begin to live with reckless optimism and how it's going to apply to your day to day life.

Kevin Lowe: First step, first and foremost, I want you to begin assuming that things will work out.

Kevin Lowe: So when you're faced with a decision, when you're faced with something that you're dealing with, instead of thinking to yourself, Man, I don't think this is going to work, or what's going to happen if this goes wrong? Instead, what if.

Kevin Lowe: You started asking yourself the question of, what if this works out better than I could ever imagine?

Kevin Lowe: What if the idea I have for this absolutely explodes? It goes incredible.

Kevin Lowe: The second step is no matter what it is, I want you to just take the risk, take the chance.

Kevin Lowe: No matter what you think could go wrong or how it might go wrong, I want you to just go ahead and take action.

Kevin Lowe: This could be as simple as you just go ahead and sending the message, hitting send on the text, send on the email.

Kevin Lowe: It's you picking up the phone and making the call.

Kevin Lowe: Asking the question. Or maybe it's you finally trying out for the team, Applying for the new job, doing the thing that in the back of your mind.

Kevin Lowe: You think there's no way.

Kevin Lowe: There's no possible way. But yet, with this new mindset of living with reckless optimism.

Kevin Lowe: You are taking action as if it is going to work out. So when you start living with reckless optimism, you get to start acting as a person who is optimistic.

Kevin Lowe: You get to start acting as the winner before You've ever won the.

Kevin Lowe: Game.

Kevin Lowe: And my friend, you have to wonder, in the big picture of life.

Kevin Lowe: Is that not what makes a true winner?

Kevin Lowe: It's not actually the score at the end of the game, but who played the game full out the whole time?

Kevin Lowe: Who showed up as their best? Who showed up with integrity?

Kevin Lowe: Who showed up living it out like they want to be?

Kevin Lowe: My friend, that's what it's all about.

Kevin Lowe: What happens at the end of the game.

Kevin Lowe: Well, that's yet to be seen.

Kevin Lowe: But what we can control is how we show up right now.

Kevin Lowe: How we run this play.

Kevin Lowe: If you show up as your best, if you run the play, go out for the pass.

Kevin Lowe: Knowing That you're going to.

Kevin Lowe: Catch the ball and score the touchdown, my friend, chances are you will.

Kevin Lowe: You will succeed. You will get the touchdown.

Kevin Lowe: So to wrap up today's episode, This idea of living with reckless optimism, I want you to remember this.

Kevin Lowe: Starting today, right now, I want you to say what you mean. I want you to believe what you believe. I want you to want.

Kevin Lowe: What you want.

Kevin Lowe: If you have dreams.

Kevin Lowe: Make them bigger because quite possibly your dreams aren't big enough. If you have goals, They're probably not big enough. Make them bigger and be proud of the dreams.

Kevin Lowe: That you have.

Kevin Lowe: Be proud of the goals that you have.

Kevin Lowe: Chase after them.

Kevin Lowe: Believe in them. Believe in yourself and believe in the hope that tomorrow can be a better day, that tomorrow all things can work out.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, I'm saying that as much to you as I am myself as a reminder to me that, hey, you know what?

Kevin Lowe: Things are going to work out.

Kevin Lowe: All those dreams that I have, They are going to come true. And I'm going to be.

Kevin Lowe: Sure that every moment of my life is spent as if they are. Pursuing them, chasing after them, Doing what I can to be sure that I'm making the very most.

Kevin Lowe: Out of this life.

Kevin Lowe: Because friend, every day is an absolute gift. It's a blessing.

Kevin Lowe: Every moment, every second.

Kevin Lowe: Every chance we have can be taken from us in the blink of an eye.

Kevin Lowe: I shared a.

Kevin Lowe: Very personal story just a couple of weeks ago here on the podcast of how real this is. Please take it from me.

Kevin Lowe: Take it from.

Kevin Lowe: That episode that we only get one shot at this life.

Kevin Lowe: There's only one today. Let's make it count.

Kevin Lowe: Let's start living with reckless optimism. My friend, if you've enjoyed today's episode.

Kevin Lowe: Please consider sharing it with somebody you love, somebody who you feel could use a boost in their day.

Kevin Lowe: And hey, if you are so inclined to.

Kevin Lowe: Do me the favor, just remember that outside of the podcast studio, I am also an inspirational public speaker.

Kevin Lowe: So if you belong to an organization, maybe it's a church.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe it's a company, maybe an association, And you guys have an upcoming meeting and you are looking for an inspirational speaker.

Kevin Lowe: Somebody who can move your audience, can get people fired up and excited about life again? Well, my friend, consider reaching out, Learning more about me, all by checking out my website.

Kevin Lowe: Kevinspeaks.org. Again, that website is kevinspeaks.org.

Kevin Lowe: Until next time, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this, of course, is Grit, Grace, & Inspiration.