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How Positive Thinking Can Get You Into Trouble

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

You must think I have it all wrong.

“It’s the power of positive thinking, Julie, the power!”

But what if–ever the person to play the devil’s advocate–I were to gently suggest that positive thinking can get you into a whole lot of trouble?

Of this, I am positive.

You can be positive, and still be a realist. But, to someone so enthralled with positive thinking, any realistic thoughts smack of negativity. There has been renewed discussion on this topic, much of it fed by author Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Bright Sided: How The Relentless Promotion Of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

What could possibly be wrong with positive thinking?

Positive Thinking Makes You Blind

At its worst, positive thinking becomes a set of blinders. You don’t even realize you’re wearing them. Positive thinking is what causes people to chase after the wind, never give up until they’ve lost everything, and blindly pursue opportunities while their family and friends watch with horror.

Positive thinking often happens when you’re too close, too familiar. You have a new product or business? You are going to lean towards thinking positively, you’ll surround yourself with people who support you positively, and you might not be able to face real facts regarding market response, income loss, customer reaction, or when it might be time to cut the line and be done.

Positive thinking isn't always good thinking, and it can make you blind.
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Positive Thinking Isn’t Always Good Thinking

Merely thinking positively about something isn’t enough. The worst idea in the world, no matter how positively you think about it, will still be a bad idea.

Be positive about what’s true, what you can control, and nothing else. I can be positive that I’m going to do my best when I enter a writing contest, but channeling positive thoughts that I’m going to win is a fool’s game. I have no control over the result beyond doing my best.

Positive thinking denies that bad and unpleasant things exist and have an effect. It says that if we only focus on what is good, those bad things will simply disappear.

That’s a dangerous place to be not only for a business person or entrepreneur, but any person.

Positive Thinking Can Revert To Very Negative Thinking

When positive thinking fails, people who have banked everything on it–really believed it–are going to come back to earth with a hearty crash.

Positive thinking can leave a person unable to deal with the very real negatives that happen in life, and they find themselves in an unfortified position. All of those positive thoughts never helped them learn to process the reality that things sometimes don’t work out. Instead, they banked on positivity and it failed. They have built no internal support system to deal with it, and they find themselves in a dark place without any way to get out.

A 2012 Canadian study, published in the Journal of Psychological Science, found this to be true. Joanne Wood, lead researcher in the study, said that those who use positive thinking and positive affirmation of their lives and situations actually ended up feeling worse. Why?

Because positive thinking, and positive self-affirmations, conflict with what we know of ourselves and our world. It is unsettling to exist in non-reality when confronted with reality.

Positive Thinking Must Be Balanced

Optimism and positive thinking that runs solely on wishful thinking gets you nowhere. It must be backed up by action, determination, and smart planning. Which means: face reality.

Positive thinking must always have common sense and realism as travel partners. There is nothing wrong with choosing to be good-natured and happy, nor is there anything wrong in looking for the bright spot in an ugly situation, but any thinking which blots out reality and effects the information you allow yourself and, consequently the choices you make, is dangerous thinking.

The best summation comes from Tamar Chansky, PhD.:

“Thinking real or true thoughts (whether joyous or sorrowful) is good for you. Tampering with the truth in our thinking in any direction–whether making it either more positive or negative is not.”

Reality can be positive and it can be negative. We shouldn’t fixate on one more than the other.