EP48: The Power of Rose-Colored Glasses

People used to say my father looked at the world through rose-colored glasses.

They didn’t always mean it as a compliment.

They thought he was naive. That maybe he didn’t see how difficult life could really be.

But I watched my father up close.

I saw the setbacks. I saw the disappointments. I saw the days when things did not go according to plan.

And I can tell you this:

He saw all of it. He just made a decision about what he was going to focus on.

That decision shaped his entire life.

In EP48 of Born to Win, I want to share one of the most practical lessons I ever learned from my father, Bob Proctor: optimism is not pretending everything is fine. It is choosing what you will do with what happens.

I remember watching him face a disappointing turnout at an event years ago. I expected him to be devastated.

Instead, he looked at the people who had shown up and said:

“Those 20 people came out tonight to listen to what I have to say. That is a very good thing, and I am grateful for it.”

Then he told me something I never forgot:

“A pro is at their best regardless.”

At the time, I thought he was ignoring reality.

Years later, I understood.

He wasn’t refusing to see the problem.

He refused to let the problem become the only thing he could see.

Inside this episode, I explore:

• Why my father’s optimism was a discipline, not simply part of his personality.

• What “rose-colored glasses” really meant in the way he lived his life.

• Why optimism does not mean denying problems, pain, or disappointment.

• How what you focus on influences what you notice—and therefore what you do.

• Three simple practices I learned from my father for training yourself to look for the good.

• Why asking a better question can completely change the direction of your thinking.

• How gratitude can train your mind to notice more of what is already working.

• Why you should pay close attention to what you allow into your mind every day.

One of the things my father used to say when something went terribly wrong was:

“This is so bad, there has to be something good in it.”

That does not mean every difficult experience suddenly becomes pleasant.

It means you refuse to surrender your ability to look for possibility.

And I understand that lesson differently now than I did as a young man.

When I lost my father, I could have focused only on what I had lost.

And believe me, I felt that loss deeply.

But I could also look at what he had given me: decades of lessons, a way of seeing the world, millions of lives touched, and the opportunity I now have to sit here and pass some of those lessons along to you.

I chose to see both.

Here’s what I want you to remember:

My father didn’t wear rose-colored glasses because he couldn’t see the world clearly.

He wore them because he could.

He saw the difficult parts.

And he chose to look for the good anyway.

That is a choice available to every one of us.

So this week, think about one difficult situation you’re dealing with right now.

Don’t pretend it isn’t difficult.

Name it honestly.

Then ask yourself:

“What good is there in this?”

Find one answer.

And tomorrow morning, before you touch your phone, write down a few very specific things you’re grateful for.

Do that for seven days.

Then notice whether the world changed...

or whether the way you are seeing it did.

Simplified Success in 15 Minutes or Less.

Quit Screwing Around: This is Your Life — now at Amazon, Audible, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and other retailers: 
https://www.brianproctor.com/quitscrewingaround 

My Father Knew the Secret: Growing Up with Bob Proctor:
https://www.MyFatherKnewtheSecret.com

12 Easy Steps To Change Your Life: Stop Waiting For That BIG Thing:
https://www.12easysteps.com

More from Brian Proctor:
https://www.brianproctor.com