Scott Adams (Episode 97, "The Upside of Fatalism") explains a practical interpretation of fatalism as acceptance of events you cannot influence while remaining highly optimistic and proactive about things you can influence. He links this hybrid mindset to President Trump (and to his own experience), traces the intellectual influence of Norman Vincent Peale and modern mindset proponents, and argues the stance reduces stress, improves mental/physical health, and aids interpersonal dealings. Adams also notes Trump's rhetorical habits ("we'll see what happens", "things always work out") and suggests this worldview helps him handle pressure.
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Well, I'm in a different time zone than most of you, so I'm going to be enjoying this excellent Marie Stella water, carbonated and delicious. If you have a beverage, you could be simultaneously sipping it right now. So I received a few requests on Periscope this morning or on Twitter to do a periscope talking about fatalism. And the reason people asked is because there's a politico, I think, political politico argument article talking about President Trump as apparently referred to himself a few times as a fatalist. Now you say to yourself, ah, ah, he's got the codes to the nuclear weapons. And he said, he's a fatalist. Ah, we're all doomed. That's not quite what's happening here. So let me explain fatalism the way I see it and the way it makes sense in his context. Now, I want to avoid imagining I can read his mind or anybody else's, so I'll just tell you what I think is the most reasonable explanation of what we're hearing. Could be right, could be wrong. I'm not a mind reader, but I think you'll agree it's a more reasonable explanation. You have noticed that President Trump is super optimistic. I can do that. I'll get that GDP up. I'll become president with no experience. I'll be a TV star. He seems to have this almost unnatural optimism, but he's also been quoted a number of times referring to himself as a fatalist. And you say to yourself, oh, that doesn't sound like it fits. How can you be an optimist at the same time you think everything's doomed. And let me explain what I think the answer to that is, and I'm going to be biased by the fact that I have the same opinion. I would also refer to myself as a fatalist. And I would also say I'm the most optimistic person I know who isn't actually named Donald Trump. And I've said before on Periscope in my book that both Trump and I were influenced by the same influencer, Norman Vincent Peale. In Trump's case, Norman Vincent Peale was actually his pastor. In my case, I read the books and was just influenced by it. Now, Norman Vincent Peale wrote the book the Power of Positive Thinking. Essentially, you just imagine that you will succeed. You imagine that everything will turn out. You imagine that you do have the capability to get what you need, and that that imagining of it actually in direct and indirect ways, helps you achieve it. So that the right mindset is what helps you get there. Now, if you were to fast forward to year 2018 and say, well, who's saying stuff like that? You might be talking about people like Mike Cernovich, a modern version for Modern Times, talks about mindset as a way to get what you want, and I talk about that as well. Now, here's my explanation. Fatalism, the way I think it makes sense in this context, and I don't want to engage in word thinking, so I'm not going to say that somebody else's definition of the word is the wrong one. I'm just going to tell you what makes sense in this context. The fatalism means if you're going to get hit by a meteor, it's just going to happen. If the world is going to blow up and you didn't know about it, there was nothing you could do. You know, it wasn't your job to stop it. It's just going to happen. If you were going to get a disease that wasn't based on lifestyle or anything else, it's just going to happen. Now, in this world, you can divide the world into things that you can't control, and they're just going to happen and things you can control. The common view of the world is that the part you can't control is gigantic and the part you can control is tiny. The optimist goes the other direction and says, you know, it looks like I can't control this stuff, but hold my Diet Coke, if you know what I mean. So the optimist says, no, the subset of things that are in the world, I can control a lot of them. I just have to do the right stuff, get the right mindset and keep at it. But even an optimist is going to say, there's some stuff you can't control. Lightning is going to go where lightning is going to go. I think it helps to reduce your stress. And here's the point I'm getting to, because President Trump is. Is. I think even his enemies would say he's really good at handling stress and pressure and criticism. I mean, imagine the pressure and criticism he's had over the last few years while we watched. And every time he comes on camera, he looks like, you know, fresh as a daisy. And you think to yourself, how in the world is this not crushing him? I mean, Trump might be the first president we've ever had who will leave office looking younger than he started, because he does handle pressure amazingly well. I believe that one of the secrets to that is that if you're a fatalist, you say, there's a bunch of stuff I can't control. So I'm not going to try and I'm also not going to worry about it. If it happens, it happens and then I'll deal with it the best I can. But worrying about it can't change it. And it's going to happen if it's going to happen. But I can still be a super optimist for all the things that I can influence. So it makes perfect sense that you're an optimist on all the things you can influence and you're a pessimist on the things that you can't influence. Or not a pessimist, but rather a fatalist. Saying it's just going to happen, worrying about it didn't help and trying to stop it doesn't help for some stuff, the things you legitimately can't possibly change. So I think that's a pretty powerful mindset. That's why I thought it was worth getting on here and talking about it. If your mindset is to work hard on changing the things you can change and simply accepting the things you can't. Does this sound like an old saying? Is that desiderata? How does that go? Lord, give me the power to change the things I can change and accept the things I can't. Something like that. That's a rough quote, but what I'm describing is actually a very well known, popular, well recommended way to look at the world. You should be very, you should be very energetic about the stuff. Is it the serenity prayer? You should be very energetic about changing the things that you might be able to change. And you should be very accepting of the things that you can't change. And let me tell you how important this is in personal interactions. If you're dealing with somebody who's just a horrible person and they can't change. If you're in the mindset of I need to change this person who just can't be changed, you're going to be frustrated, you're going to be angry, you're going to hate them. But if you say to yourself, all right, I can change me sometimes I can influence other persons, other people, but this person, they're beyond my powers. I can't change this person. So I'm just going to accept them, just accept them the way they are. If you can get to that point, the weight of worry is cut by 50%, probably. So if you can just stop worrying about the things that are just going to happen anyway, it helps. Now President Trump also adds another little flourish to this philosophy. And he says that things always work out. You know, we'll see what happens. Those are his favorites. We'll see what happens. And things always work out in the long run. Now, if you were to look at his life and all the ups and downs he's had, and now he's sitting on top of the world as President of the United States, you'd have to say, well, things do kind of work out. I mean, look at all the downs he's had. Look at all the attacks, the pressures, the legitimate, personal and professional things that have happened to him. And he still says, well, I can't change those things, so I'm not going to worry about him. And it always works out. And here he is getting ready to go to North Korea to do maybe. Maybe the impossible. And why does he think that he can do what nobody else thought they could do, which is have a friendly meeting with Kim Jong Un? And even if it's not an immediate, you know, full success in every way, we would like to put it on the path because does Kim Jong Un need nuclear weapons if we are legitimately getting friendly with him? No, we would just take away his reason simply by being, you know, the right mind mindset when. When we approach him. So there's your explanation. I give that to you because people ask for it fatalism to the extent that it just means you can't change some things. So just accept that. Accept that that's your situation. And I think you also see that there's a lot of science behind that. I don't have any at my fingertips, but I believe the people who can accept their situation, no matter how dire it is, are just in a better mental health. And your mental health drives your physical health. So there's sort of a virtuous cycle there. All right, that's pretty much all I wanted to say. And somebody says, how come you don't pace and lead the left? Why would you say I'm not? What would make you think that? And let me ask you this. If I wanted to make the best change in the world, would I change? Would I try to influence the right or would I try to influence the left? Which would you do first? Think about it. Which one would you do first? I'm going to leave you with that thought. And apparently I wear terrible shirts because I've got a lot of compliments on my shirt. Thank you for that. And I'll talk to you again soon.
