The Picard Principle

Hi,

This week’s email is a tool that can help you deal with frustrating setbacks.

Here are the key practical points you should know (mainly from my article):

As always, I’m happy to hear your thoughts.

• The Picard principle is the adage that “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.”

• This principle denotes that even if you follow the best course of action available to you, you can still sometimes get a bad outcome.

• An example of the Picard principle is that you can submit a strong application for a job, and get rejected because the person who assessed the application already had a preferred candidate in mind.

• This principle can help you assess situations more rationally and cope with negative emotions, for instance when you would otherwise criticize yourself too harshly for a failure that wasn’t your fault.

• Don’t let this principle lead you to feel helpless or avoid taking responsibility when you should.

Have a great week,
Itamar