Intro

It's been a long time since I wrote anything close to philosophy on here. Here it goes. All of this is personal thoughts, not facts.

Let's take a generalized example of a person wanting to get from point A to B. Not necessarily a physical distance, but in a general sense that someone wants to accomplish something.

Pessimism + belief:

I can't do this, there's no point. The problem is unsolvable or I simply can't do it. Importantly, I have an external belief system that I think impacts if I can accomplish this, and that belief system makes me believe I cannot accomplish this.

Optimism + belief:

I can do this, i'm not sure how, but there must be a way. Importantly, I have an external belief system that I think impacts if I can accomplish this, and the belief system makes me believe I can accomplish this.

Pessimism + evidence:

There's evidence that I can't accomplish this and therefore I shouldn't do this. Or there's evidence that there may be a way, but I still don't think I can do it with the evidence that I have. There's no point in looking for more evidence. The gaps of knowledge are not bridgeable.

Optimism + evidence:

There's evidence that I can do this, now I need to utilize that and work towards my goal. The gaps of knowledge are bridgeable.

Pessimism + support:

I can't do this, and my support structures agree. Or, I can't do this and my support structures aren't helpful.

Optimism + support:

I can do this and my support structures are going to allow me to accomplish my goal.

Grit:

Intense passion. I don't care if there's a known way, I don't care about the evidence, I'm going to accomplish my goal.

Thoughts

Grit doesn't mean success. External factors can have a direct impact. Timing and/or luck (systems of systems that I cannot understand) can also have direct impacts. Grit can also cause a lot of damage and can sometimes overlap with arrogance.

What I really want to explore and make clear are the differences between "I can't do this" and "I can do this". Why do these opposite ends of a spectrum exist? How do they come into existence to begin with? I think, obviously, is that it depends. It depends on how successful one's been in the past. How worn down and used to failure is someone. Can someone shift from that basic starting point from "I can't do this" to "I can do this"? Absolutely. But that too depends on the situation. I think it can come down to a simple fact that I keep coming back around to in my life, and that is: focus determines reality. Will that always make a difference? Absolutely not. But it can and should.