If you’re about to get some news—perhaps you’re awaiting word from colleges or funders or the Nobel Prize Committee—a useful way to manage your own tendencies is to imagine that the news is bad. Think through in advance the worst that could happen, try it on emotionally, and reason through the possible consequences. If that sounds like advice to be pessimistic, it’s actually the opposite. It is a reminder that whatever the outcome, you’ll be able to manage.
