Think of this thought training as foresight. Before you go out and do something, ask yourself: What could go wrong? What obstacle could pop up? Where could I face difficulties? That’s emotional resilience training. You prepare yourself to face tough situations beforehand, when things are good, so that you’ll be ready when things turn bad. That’s how you avoid devastation, as Ryan Holiday expressed beautifully: “Devastation—that feeling that we’re absolutely crushed and shocked by an event—is a factor of how unlikely we considered that event in the first place.”
