How You Perceive Yourself & Why It Matters
The Key To Delusional Optimism
You have the power to transform yourself by the way you think and speak.
But with power comes great responsibility.
While you have the ability to empower yourself to achieve great things, you can just as easily put a damper on yourself without even realizing.
This is why you need to be very protective about what you put out into the world and internalize about yourself, as it can very easily become your reality. In fact, I’d say it can be a determining factor in your likelihood of reaching your goals.
Unwavering, Delusional Optimism Remains Undefeated
In this article I’m going to go through the three avenues in which you are in full control of how you perceive yourself and why it matters.
What you think about yourself
What you say about yourself
What you write about yourself (under-explored area, don’t sleep on it)
1. What You Think About Yourself
Your mind is a blank canvas with a mandate to be painted. A void that must be filled. The occupation of your mind is a zero-sum game. Something MUST occupy that space. That is why it is so important to inject the right thoughts into your brain, because if you don’t, something else will.
Life is full of challenge, uncertainty, struggle, suffering, disappointment in ourselves and others. We’ve all had moments in our life where we are bombarded with negative thoughts and emotions. You’re lying if you say otherwise.
At the same time, those negative thoughts and emotions cannot occupy space in your mind if you are full on everything that is good: optimism, confidence, love, ambition, etc.
Your thoughts are what set the foundation for who you are and what you do. Those who actually think they can achieve something great will do what is necessary to make it a reality. From the outside, they’re dedicated, full of energy, ‘lucky’ even.
It’s simple really. Think highly of yourself, smart, capable, skilled, resourceful, your life will reflect that. You will show up when the lights are brightest. Think very little of yourself? Your life will reflect that too.
Your actions are a reflection of your attitudes and beliefs. My fellows Christians understand this well.
But anyone can just think something. It’s easy, inconsequential, safe. There’s no risk of how you’ll be perceived by others, or any accountability for yourself.
That’s why there’s levels to this.
2. What You Say About Yourself
How you talk about yourself has to be one of the most important and complicated aspects to personal success.
If you are always downplaying yourself or even agreeing when others put you down, then you are installing a ceiling on your own potential.
If you have a belief, a dream, a goal, a conviction, you need to own it. And don’t just hint at it, I mean OWN it. I wish I understood this sooner.
The world is a constant competition for attention, position, money, status, and everything of the sort. You need to be your own biggest advocate. Nobody will advocate harder for you in the public domain than you.
You might think this is common knowledge, but not everyone fully grasps this. There are so many times where people put a damper on themselves without even realizing.
I’ll give you a personal example.
I moved out of my parent’s house to be on my own to chase my dream and sign with am MLB Organization. I moved from Rhode Island to North Carolina totally alone and had to force myself to make friends.
The Parish I went to Mass every Sunday near my apartment had a strong and organized young adult presence. When they would have a social gathering or event, I would make sure to go.
Everyone knows that when you are trying to meet new people, they will ALWAYS ask:
“What do you do (for work)?”
I would always say: “I’m a professional baseball player.”
“Cool! For what team.”
“Oh I’m a free agent.”
Sometimes then I’d get: “What team did you play on before?”
“…”
I’m sure they didn’t think that much of it, but let me tell you, on my end it felt so awkward. I was telling people what I was before I became it. I was confident in myself, but it can be tough to express that to others sometimes.
But here’s the thing:
The first time was awkward.
The second time, a bit less.
But the third time? Felt nothing. Instinctual. By then I had just fully embraced who I was. Even before I had any opportunity to sign with an MLB team.
Some call this ‘fake it till you make it,’ but are you really faking it if you believe it?
Imagine if I said something different to the people I met. Softened my language. Said I was “trying to potentially be..” or something like that. I was already pursuing something extremely difficult as is. Does that sound like ‘unwavering delusional confidence’ to you? That suggests I don’t have it within my grasp.
But you might be thinking: “Well what about being cocky? That’s not always a good thing." You might be right. To be quite honest I’m not exactly sure what is the optimal balance between humility and cockiness, at least in order to be a high achiever.
A general rule of thumb would be to remain humble until called upon. Know who you are in your mind, but don’t feel like you have to constantly project that to the world. If you do, have a specific intention, don’t just do it for personal validation. But if you’re called upon, meaning someone specifically asks you what you believe, that’s when you express your full attitudes (in the right situation of course).
They opened the door for you to tell them who you truly are. That’s when you don’t hold back. What comes out is a reflection of what you think you can actually achieve.
But talk is cheap, as everyone says. So let’s take this a step further…
3. What you write about yourself
Stay with me here. This is one of the reasons I enjoy writing.
What you think about yourself matters because it sets the foundation for who you want to be.
What you say about yourself matters because what you project onto others is a reflection of what you think you can be.
What you write about yourself, something people explore far less often, is important because it takes your ideas and brings them into the real world.
If you have an idea, dream, vision, goal, whatever it is, you can think about it all you want. But if it just stays as thought, eventually it will fade as other things distract you and fill your mind. You can talk about it, but again, talk is cheap. Anyone can just say things.
Putting that idea down on pen and paper has just transferred it to the physical dimension. It now exists outside of you. This allows you to expand on that idea even as you’re bombarded by other distractions in life.
There are so many instances where I had an idea, wrote it down, forgot about it, and came back to it with better insight later. Had I not written it down, it would just be gone, onto the next.
But there’s a whole different angle to writing about yourself that is overlooked:
Accountability for yourself.
If you have some type of journal or notebook and you write a grand vision for yourself, who you are, and what you aspire to be, you now have to hold yourself accountable to that in the future.
This creates urgency to act and work to become the person you think and say you can be. It’s a form of pressure that comes from a need to fulfill your own prophecy.
Writing down an ambitious vision for yourself implies you have the confidence to carry it out and make it happen. This implies that you believe deep down that you are a capable person. You wouldn’t write down something that didn’t matter to you.
Read more on pressure, urgency, and action here:
At at the end of 2024 I wrote extensively in a journal about how I wanted to be a Big Leaguer one day. At that point I was nowhere close to even getting an opportunity to get a foot in a door with any organization (delusional optimism strikes again). And here I am now in February of 2026 getting ready for my first Spring Training in a few short weeks. What was just a long-shot dream for years started to become real as soon as I started to write about it.
Weird coincidence huh?
Writing things down makes them much more real. So many athletes and other types of high-achieving people would agree. It has truly been a difference maker for me and I wish I understood it’s power sooner. I don’t do a daily journal out of habit, I only write when I feel convicted to.
Wrapping Things Up
The reason I’m sharing this with you is because I learned the importance of mastering self-belief first hand through trial and error. I made the mistake of just thinking, just believing, hoping that things would go my way and the life I wanted would appear. There have been times where I’ve been too timid to proclaim my goals and ambitions proudly.
It wasn’t until I learned to fully embody who I wanted to become that opportunities would fall into my lap. Not cocky, humble but confident. ‘Delusional Optimism’ as I like to say.
Life is hard. Every worthwhile pursuit is competitive. Be your biggest advocate in every possible dimension, and never sell yourself short.
-MT