Don't Forget to Imagine The Best Case Scenario Too

Read time: 6 minutes

Hey, welcome back.

Last week, we talked about putting our feet up. You can read that (and all past issues, here).

Some days I spend more time imagining disaster than I do building anything useful.

Most days, actually. More often than I'd like to admit.

The pitch failing. The partnership falling through. The product launch bombing. The funding running out. The whole thing collapsing.

I can spend an hour running these scenarios in my head. Vivid. Detailed. Emotionally intense.

Then I tell myself this is part of being an entrepreneur. I'm supposed to visualise risks. Plan for obstacles. Think through what could go wrong.

I'm supposed to do this, right?

The Pattern I Keep Running

Before I launch something, I imagine how it could fail.

The market rejecting it. The timing being wrong. The positioning missing completely. Months of work evaporating because nobody cares.

I walk through it step by step. How it would feel. What people would say. The conversations I'd have to have. The money lost. The time wasted.

Before big meetings, I visualise them going badly.

The presentation not landing. The questions I can't answer. The energy in the room dying. Walking out knowing I blew it.

Before difficult conversations, I run through every way they could explode.

The person getting defensive. The tension escalating. The relationship damaged. The regret afterward.

I thought this was smart. Risk management. Being realistic. Preparing for the downside.

Really I was just rehearsing failure over and over while calling it strategy.

What I Didn't Realise

There's actual neuroscience on this.

When you visualise risky situations, your brain activates the insula. The part that processes fear and estimates negative consequences.

Here's the problem: your brain can't fully distinguish between something vividly imagined and something real.

When I spend an hour imagining a launch failing, my brain experiences that failure. The stress hormones. The emotional response. The physical tension.

I've given myself the damage of actually failing without any of the learning that comes from trying.

Research shows this is reward-based learning gone sideways. My brain thinks catastrophizing gives me control. Like if I imagine every way it could go wrong, I'm somehow more prepared.

For a moment, that feels useful. "At least I know what I'm dealing with."

That false sense of preparedness is enough to keep the loop running. So I do it again. And again.

Studies found that catastrophic thinking shows up across anxiety, panic, and chronic stress. The process is identical across all of them. Only the specific content changes.

The Part I Was Missing

I know about the Stoics. They practised negative visualisation. Imagining worst cases to build resilience and gratitude.

Everyone in the startup world quotes this. "Prepare for the worst."

But here's what nobody mentions: the Stoics didn't catastrophize 47 times a day while checking their phone.

And they didn't only imagine the worst. They imagined both outcomes.

Michael Phelps visualised winning gold. He also visualised his goggles filling with water mid-race and still finishing strong.

When his goggles actually filled at Beijing 2008, he won anyway. Because he'd mentally rehearsed handling that exact problem.

He prepared for both scenarios. Not just the disaster.

What I Started Noticing

I catastrophize constantly. That's just what my brain does.

But I almost never spend equal time imagining the best case.

Not vague hope. Actual detailed visualisation of things going right.

The launch working. The partnership exceeding expectations. The conversation resolving better than I thought possible.

My brain treats imagined experiences like real ones. Same neural pathways. Same brain regions lighting up.

If I only imagine failure, I'm training my brain to recognise threats, generate anxiety, and brace for disaster.

If I imagine success, I'm training my brain to recognise opportunities, generate motivation, and execute what's needed.

Both are mental rehearsals. I'm training either way.

The question is what I'm training for.

The Shift I'm Making

Now before anything important, I still catastrophize. Let my brain run through what could go wrong.

But I set a timer. Five minutes. Get it out.

Then I spend ten minutes imagining the best case. In the same detail.

Not just "it works out." The actual scene. The conversation. How it feels. What happens next. The specific words. The emotional response.

I make it as vivid as the disaster scenarios my brain generates automatically.

This feels weird. My brain resists hard. It feels fake. Unrealistic. Like I'm setting myself up for disappointment.

That's just the catastrophizing protecting itself.

I do it anyway.

What Actually Changes

I show up differently.

More confident. More present. More capable of actually thinking instead of just managing anxiety.

Before a big meeting recently, I caught myself spending 20 minutes imagining it going badly. Stopped. Spent 20 minutes imagining it going well.

The meeting happened. Went fine. Not perfect. Not terrible. Somewhere in between, like most things.

But I was there. Actually engaged. Not just braced for disaster.

When challenges came up, I didn't freeze. Because I'd mentally rehearsed handling them well, not just catastrophizing about them.

The Science That Makes Sense

Research from University of Colorado: "Imagination is a neurological reality that can impact our brains and bodies in ways that matter for our well-being."

Studies on athletes show mental practice produces almost the same improvement as physical practice. One group practised free throws. Another only visualised making them. The visualisation group improved nearly as much.

The brain was simulating the experience. Building neural networks. Strengthening connections.

Other research shows that visualisation reduces anxiety, increases confidence, and helps people achieve flow states.

Guided imagery reduced clinical anxiety scores significantly. Just ten days of visualising calm scenarios.

Visualising yourself in nature produces the same physiological calm as actually being there. Heart rate drops. Breathing deepens.

Your imagination isn't just daydreaming. It's neurological training.

What This Looks Like Now

I still imagine things going wrong. That part of my brain hasn't changed.

But now when I catch myself catastrophizing, I match it with best case.

Same level of detail. Same emotional intensity. Same vivid imagination.

Before launching something, I visualise it flopping. Then I visualise it working better than expected.

Before difficult conversations, I imagine them going badly. Then I imagine them resolving and making the relationship stronger.

Before big decisions, I run through the regret. Then I run through the breakthrough.

My brain gets the complete picture now. Not just threats. Also possibilities.

The Truth

I'm not ignoring risks. I still plan for obstacles. I still think through downsides.

But I was already spending massive energy imagining failure. That was overcovered.

What wasn't covered was imagining success with the same detail.

Both are possible. My brain should be prepared for both.

For years, it was only prepared for one.

Since I started balancing it, my anxiety has dropped. My performance has improved. My decisions feel clearer.

Nothing external changed. Just what I let my brain practice.

To imagining both, Dan

P.S. Tonight if your brain starts running worst-case scenarios, let it. Then match the time with the best case. Same detail. Same intensity. You're not being naive. You're being complete. Your brain deserves the full picture, not just the disasters.

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A 2020 study published in Emotion found that people who learned to accept their “non-ideal emotional states”, including low motivation, low energy, and neutral days, experienced significantly higher overall well-being and lower stress.

The key insight: self-acceptance amplifies emotional resilience, while self-judgment weakens it.

📌 Quick Takeaway →

Your average days aren’t failures; they’re emotional training grounds.
When you stop punishing yourself for being human, everything in your life compounds faster.

→ Link to study

In my goal to help more entrepreneurs/people who are looking to level up their careers, I've just started taking 1-1 consulting calls (only 1 a week)

Why book a call? Some of my expertise/success:

I've built 5 startups. 1 win, 1 fail, and 3 still going.
E-Commerce: Heights - with revenue over £20M a year.
Community: Foundrs, one of the UK's top founder communities
Podcasting: Leaders Media - I bootstrapped a media company that made the UK's top business podcasts including Secret Leaders, with over 50M downloads across the network.
Health/Mental Health: Overcame burnout, insomnia, depression & anxiety in pursuit of success. Hear me on Steven Bartlett's on Diary of a CEO
Angel Investing: I've invested in over 100 startups
Coached & Mentored: Certified coach & 5* mentor on Mentorpass
Personal Brand: Over 400,000 followers across social

So if you're interested in booking a session with me to talk all things business or building a personal brand, book for 30-minutes or 45-minutes. (limited spots).

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