The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You
By Tim Denning, originally published on X on Feb 2, 2026. Translated and adapted with attribution.
Hospitals feel like death. They’re depressing. Now imagine you’re a sick child in hospital. Other kids are outside playing. You’re stuck inside feeling sick.
A Californian doctor named Dr. Tony Adkins noticed this reality. His job was to treat some of the sickest kids — cancer, brain tumors, disabilities. Some would spend years being sick.
The tension in the hospital ward bothered him deeply. Even when the medicine worked, the energy still felt off. One morning during rounds, he decided to make a small change.
He brought a speaker in, played music, and danced to the beat like a child. The first time he got a few tiny smiles from kids. After a few days some children laughed. Within a week the whole hospital became curious.
The curiosity fuelled him. He decided to dance even more. Before a surgery he’d dance for two minutes until everyone was watching. After successful surgeries he’d dance too. His vibe became infectious. Other doctors, nurses, parents, and even sick children began to dance along.
His point wasn’t to go viral and get empty likes. He was using the joy of dancing to put people in a good mood — a form of medicine more powerful than painkillers or chemo.
The most important skill nobody taught you is the ability to stay in a great mood in the absence of things to be in a great mood about.
The depressing reality of modern life
In modern life it’s painfully hard to stay in a great mood. Haters online want to trigger you. Bosses gaslight you for not working hard enough. Politicians mess with your mind for votes. Social media is a cesspool of backhanded insults.
If it’s not AI taking your job, it’s the cost of living widening the gap between rich and poor. If it’s not health issues from processed food, it’s a lack of energy from sitting in an office chair staring at a screen all day.
Being in a good mood is a skill. We’re not born with it. And without it, you won’t succeed in life.
To get what you want in life, you must do this
Nobody talks about how optimism is crucial.
If you think the world is screwed, you won’t have the right frame of mind to do hard work. To succeed you must find opportunities and pursue them. But if the world looks dark you won’t see opportunities. You’ll only see problems. You’ll only see roadblocks.
Most people think they can’t be in a good mood because they’re special. Harsh truth: You’re not special. Everyone’s tired. Everyone’s overwhelmed.
The ones who win are the ones who show up anyway. — Gracie Van
You must show up every day regardless of what nonsense is going on. That means what you want to do must be broken down into daily habits you do no matter what.
This is why most people fail. They break their habit streaks because they let a bad mood get in the way. All it takes is one missed day to light your dreams on fire.
The dark day I was forced to be in a good mood
In 2021, I had $1.2M stolen from my digital wallet. This money was set aside to buy my first house. In that house I would live with my wife and have two children. My poor actions stole that dream from my future family.
I felt terrible. Depressed.
I told a mentor it was days like that where I understood why people walk in front of trains.
I felt even worse when the federal police told me later that day my money had gone to Russia to help fund the Ukraine war. Innocent people would die because of my stupidity.
I could have decided this rock bottom was the end. I could never have trusted anyone again. I could have stopped using the internet, stopped buying Bitcoin, blamed myself for decades and let it hold me back.
But I didn’t.
A coffee with a friend acted as a pattern interrupt. I came up with a new story. I decided that losing $1.2M would help me make millions more. It didn’t have to be this way.
Instead, I could decide to be in a good mood. I could see it as an opportunity.
And I did.
Within a year of losing $1.2M, I’d made more than three times what I had lost. All because I decided to be in a good mood and see it as good fortune.
Being in a bad mood forces this to happen
Every time you hesitate, someone less talented takes your spot. The world rewards action, not potential. — Dr. Julie Gurner
Hesitation is the kiss of death.
Without a good mood and some optimism, your monkey brain takes over and forces you to procrastinate. Meanwhile, people much dumber than you are in a good mood and just take action.
They’re not overthinking it. They expect bad stuff to happen. They decide to keep moving anyway.
The biggest reason people are in a bad mood is because they feel terrible about settling for second best and not reaching their potential. That leads to frustration and anger that compounds and repels the very opportunities they need. It’s a negative flywheel.
When you hesitate and choose inaction, you end up saying “I’ll do it tomorrow.” That’s how you train your brain not to believe you. Your brain starts to see you as a liar. So it sabotages your goals because it knows you’re full of it.
How you see the world determines whether you get what you want
I used to see the world as a toxic wasteland. It led to dark mental illness.
One critical moment that changed everything was a 4-day Tony Robbins event. It started at 9 AM. By 9 PM I hadn’t taken a break, eaten lunch, or drank any water. Then at 9:30 PM I had to walk on fire. My feet were badly burned. There were visible signs.
But I felt nothing. No hunger. No pain. No desire to drink water. No tiredness. Nothing.
Tony changed my state. He put me in a state beyond a good mood — euphoria. I experienced such a higher state of consciousness that I couldn’t feel pain from the burns.
That’s how powerful your state of mind is. It can help you overcome impossible situations.
It wasn’t always that way. When I was 18, I was dating the love of my life. One night at a house party she disappeared for a few minutes. I thought nothing of it. Then I went room by room with a friend. I opened the main bedroom door and saw my girlfriend with another man.
That situation put me in a bad mood for about 4 years. I wish I could go back and get those 4 years back knowing what I know now. No one teaches us the skill of being in a good mood, but they should. It’s a survival skill.
The takeaway
The more technology takes over our lives, the more susceptible we are to being in a bad mood thanks to algorithms.
Snap out of it. How you feel about life comes down to whether you choose to be in a good mood despite what happens. It’s a conscious decision. And if you make it every day, it might just change your life.
Convenience and ease have made us ruder and madder than ever. It’s time to fight back and develop the ability to be in a good mood no matter what.
If the ability to stay in a good mood is more powerful than intelligence, wealth, or connections — why is it almost never taught?