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You are receiving this email because you signed up to Caffeine for your Inbox, a weekly newsletter about living a more intentional, innovative life. It’s kind of like caffeine for your life. If you were forwarded this email, you can get your own here.

🥛Cream & Sugar

Ideas about living a more intentional, innovative life. The kind of stuff that makes a newsletter (and coffee) good.

On Friday, I went to New York with my family. We picked a restaurant to go to, and my brother's eyes lit up when he saw the menu. “They have cream soda!” He eyed my mom hopefully and she gave him a small nod: we were in New York. Today, he could have all the sugar he wanted.

But when he got the soda, he wrinkled his nose. "The aftertaste is really bad," he told me. We had some amazing food: fresh lo mein, crispy string beans, and pillowy curry buns. Still, my brother's eyes stayed dim. The underwhelming cream soda had killed his mood.

It's a universal human experience. We feel elated, like nothing can bring us down. Until one thing does. For some reason, minor bad experiences have a disproportionate effect on our mood. It’s not us being dramatic—humans are hardwired for negativity.

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense. If you were living in the Middle Ages and the sky was a bit gray, you would feel sad and go inside. Later, when the rain began to pour, you would be safe and warm. Our negativity bias was a safety mechanism, making sure we were attuned to any potential sign of danger.

In other words, if you have no idea what I'm talking about with all this negativity bias stuff, your ancestors might have been stuck in their fair share of natural disasters.

Nowadays, gray clouds are just a sign that you should check the Weather app on our phones. So, what do you do about this annoying bias you’re still stuck with?

The thing about negativity bias is it hinders your growth. It might make you fixate on constructive suggestions in a negative, self-deprecating way. It might make you fearful of situations that involve risk even if the negative aspects don't objectively outweigh the positive.

On the other hand, positivity opens your mind. It helps you see potential and new ideas, which lends itself to creativity and innovation.

The solution isn't to wear rose-colored glasses—unconditional positivity places unhealthy pressure on you to be happy. Instead, it starts with accepting the situation. It starts with a It really sucks that the cream soda was really bad.

Then, refocus. Make a conscious effort to give any positive events that occurred equal weight in your mind. I really appreciated that we got to hear the sounds of the city as we ate. I would gulp a whole cream soda down just for another bite of that lo mein. By giving each occurrence equal thought, you re-balance your pessimism.

Lastly, when you can, change your activity. After dinner, we walked around the city while eating ice cream. Change gives your brain space to establish new patterns. It lets you redirect your attention to something that hasn't been tainted by a negative experience. The restaurant was bad but walking is good.

Our collective mood was dramatically improved as we wandered through Washington Square Park. That is, until my strawberry cookie crumble ice cream slid neatly off my cone and went splat.

Always savor the good things while they last.

💥Jitters

For that moment when the caffeine hits: a random assortment of resources, articles, and other fun things.

• The Science of Strong Business Writing: Good writing gets the reader’s dopa­mine flowing. This article explains how to achieve that. Shared by Umaimah, a friend of Caffeine for Your Inbox.

• How to Counter Propaganda: Based on lessons from advertising.

• Can Sustainable Investing Work?: A deep dive on socially responsible investing. Shared by Grace, a friend of Caffeine for Your Inbox.

💻What's Brewing at My Desk

Updates on Think Outside the Odds and other projects.

This week, I had a call with my cover designer. We outlined my vision for my book cover and mocked up a few ideas. I should be getting some first drafts next week! In the meantime, if you have any favorite book covers you think I could take inspiration from, I would love to see them.

☕Espresso Shot

All the actionable insights from this newsletter condensed into a few bullet points.

• Be mindful of negativity bias, the way your mind disproportionately gives weight to negative experiences.

• To re-balance your mind, deliberately reflect on your experiences and accept the way you feel about each one. Give equal reflection time to positive and negative experiences. After reflecting, step away from the activity and do something new.

• Follow the 8 S's when writing—be simple, specific, surprising, stirring, seductive, smart, social, and story-­driven.