Positivity Is Overrated: How Negative Thinking Can Make Us Happier
The literature on the power of positive thinking is everywhere, from the fringe self-help books of the past to today's mainstream wisdom. It usually goes like this: if you think good thoughts hard enough, the universe will respond, and those thoughts will eventually manifest into reality. It sounds a little wonky written like that, but there are plenty of more subtle articulations of that same theme that have become accepted wisdom. And why shouldn't they? At worst, you might reason, being optimistic and positive can't hurt. And maybe, just maybe, there's something to this whole "manifesting positive outcomes" thing, right?
Those same people will chastise you if you start planning for what might go wrong. Dwell on everything that might or might not work out, because it almost certainly will not. The old adage attributed to Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right," is frequently used to explain why entertaining doubt is detrimental to success.
What if I told you, on the other hand, that people who consider everything that could go wrong on a project almost always end up with better results?
To any fan of Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, this may appear to be heresy, or at the very least difficult to swallow. However, considering all of the negative potential outcomes is extremely beneficial. It is almost universally practiced by the most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs, either consciously or unconsciously. This is why.
Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
As Annie Duke explains in her book How to Decide, the quality of your decisions and the luck you get determine the majority of your life. At times in your life, you may make excellent decisions but be plagued by bad luck, resulting in poor outcomes. You can't control your luck no matter how hard you try.
Those same people will chastise you if you start planning for what might go wrong. Dwell on everything that might or might not work out, because it almost certainly will not. The old adage attributed to Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right," is frequently used to explain why entertaining doubt is detrimental to success.
What if I told you, on the other hand, that people who consider everything that could go wrong on a project almost always end up with better results?
You'll be more emotionally stable as a result.
People who consider all possible outcomes — including the less desirable — before embarking on a new venture have a far more balanced emotional response if those less desirable outcomes occur. They are more resilient in most ways. As a result, when bad things happen, they are more likely to make calculated and well-informed decisions.
Decisions compound on one another in the same way that compound interest does, so it is critical that you do not let one bad decision or a string of bad luck drive future bad decisions.
In general, the more emotional and less measured you are, the less well-informed your decisions are, so preparing for negative outcomes will keep your emotions from overpowering your rational decision-making center.
Negative thinking has the potential to make us happier.
Any Stoic, or, more recently, any Ryan Holiday reader, is familiar with two Latin phrases: "premeditation Malorum" and "memento mori." They roughly translate to "forethought of evils" and "remember you are going to die." Contrary to popular belief, the Stoics were not a bunch of gloomy, unpleasant grumps. They instead used these meditations to instill a sense of positivity in their lives.
You will die eventually, but you are not dead yet, so be thankful. Some things you'd rather not happen to you will happen, so enjoy your blessings while they last.
"This, too, shall pass," says a more modern saying that is thematically consistent. It's not just a reminder that the bad times will pass; it's also a reminder that the good times will pass. Prepare for bad luck while enjoying the good, and remember that when things are tough, better times are just around the corner. This way of thinking trains you to maintain perspective and, as a result, to be more resilient to the ups and downs of life.
All of this is not to say that positive thinking has no place. Rather, it is intended to promote a balanced approach to scenario planning. Most of us naturally want to default to a positive mindset, which isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's only bad when it prevents us from developing the mental muscle to deal with adversity. There are no clear paths to success in business or entrepreneurship. Nobody ever built an empire in a single day. No journey is without its share of adversity. Fortunately, the better prepared you are for that adversity, the more you've planned for it, and the easier it will be in the end.
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