BE ACTION ORIENTED A different way of framing what @pmarca says below - but one that reaches the same conclusion - is that the state of mind most conducive to success is action orientation. Psychologists have studied the states of mind that tend to make us more successful, whatever the challenge. There are at least two we can adopt: action orientation and state orientation. Adopting an action orientation means focusing on the task ahead with no thought to your current emotional or physical state. A state orientation means you’re thinking principally about yourself: how prepared you feel in that moment, the worry you feel over a text left unanswered, the light prickling at the back of your throat. Adopting an action orientation, it turns out in studies, makes it much more likely that you accomplish the task. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the epitome of action orientation. In his biography on Netflix, one of the things that stands out across all three episodes is his relentless focus on action. He says, “When I wake up in the morning, I don’t ask myself, ‘How am I today,’ [or] ‘Do I feel sad today’?” In other words, he doesn’t ruminate on how he feels on a daily basis. He adds, “If you’re busy all the time, you don’t have time to think about this stuff. Let’s just move forward. Move. Move. Move. Move.” Classic action orientation.