Hi again! Caitlin here. It’s Monday, and I’m feeling surprisingly optimistic. 

I say “surprisingly” because I can’t stop thinking about the chaos in the US. All weekend I’ve been asking myself how I’m going to sic my braincells on a newsletter when ICE is fomenting civil war in the streets of Minneapolis, harassing and killing citizens, and devastating families. By 7:00 pm last night I’d decided that maybe I couldn’t do it, and maybe that had to be fine.

But then I did my final listen-through of today’s episode and, rather poetically, it offered a strategy for getting through the stuckness.

This episode of Simplify, we’ve got Seth Godin. Seth is a teacher and a writer (he’s been blogging every day for 30 years and has 21 bestselling books). His areas of expertise are marketing, leadership, creativity, and making good trouble. We discussed his newest book, This is Strategy, whose thesis is that strategy isn’t a rigid plan or a set of tactics—it’s a philosophy of becoming. 

Seth shares the three main drivers behind everything we do, how to think about pricing your work so it doesn’t break your brain, and the critical human asset that’ll keep people competitive against AI. It’s all so good and clear and helpful, but none of that is what grabbed me today.

Today, it was hope.

Whenever I talk with Seth I come away hopeful and inspired. He has a shrewd, sunny pragmatism that’s as no bullshit as it is kind. I asked him how he stays so consistently optimistic. Here’s what he said:

“I think optimism is a strategy, not a weather report. The weather report is handled by other people. The question is, what does your posture and point of view do for your ability to do your work? And so I try not to judge a day by the weather, but instead say: today I get a chance to make something better for someone. And to be optimistic about it is the only way I can do that.”

I don’t think that a podcast episode can change the world, but I do think it can change a day. And that is something about which I can feel genuinely optimistic. 

I promise this isn’t Pollyanna optimism—it’s gritty and gimlet-eyed. I’ve selected it deliberately as a reminder to myself and to you that even when the weather report is trash (something we Berliners know a lot about), optimism is a strategy that we can choose. We get to pull on our galoshes, don our slickers, and try to make something better in the ways we know how, in our circles of influence. 

So. Here’s to choosing our strategies. Come and listen to this great conversation, and let us know what you think. I really hope it buoys you the way it did me.

‘Til soon,
Caitlin

P.S. Please share with a friend you think will enjoy this episode. It’s the best way you can help Simplify stick around! Also, let me know what you thought of the episode by replying here or writing to me and Ben at [email protected]. 

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