Briefly Noted: Know Your Counterfactuals

A useful way to plan for next time is to imagine how things could have gone better.

But the easiest way to generate negative emotion is to ruminate on how they should have gone.

So spend most of your time contemplating how things could have been worse — much worse — in as many ways as you can imagine.

That will reliably generate positive emotions like relief, gratitude, and contentment.

Only imagine better alternatives when you’re actively planning your next step. Then stop.