{"id":649,"date":"2018-12-08T16:03:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-08T14:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/?p=649"},"modified":"2018-12-08T16:03:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-08T14:03:43","slug":"why-thinking-negatively-isnt-always-a-bad-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/why-thinking-negatively-isnt-always-a-bad-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Thinking Negatively Isn’t Always a Bad Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Willie Nelson, one of my favorite artists, is\u00a0quoted as saying<\/a>, “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”<\/p>\n

With all due respect to\u00a0The Red-Headed Stranger<\/a>, I suspect Mr. Nelson was a little off-base when he said this. Not everyone is motivated and successful when they think positively. Some people are motivated\u00a0more<\/i>\u00a0when they think negatively.<\/p>\n

Now, before you write me off as crazy, try to keep an open mind. Believe it or not, harnessing\u00a0the power of negative thinking<\/a>\u00a0may help you work harder and achieve more.<\/p>\n

Sound too good to be true? Too bad to be true?<\/p>\n

Read on to discover exactly why negative thinking isn’t always a bad idea.<\/p>\n

Overthrowing the positive thinking paradigm<\/b><\/h2>\n

It’s hard to challenge modern conventions, but psychologist Julie Normen decided to write\u00a0The Positive Power of Negative Thinking<\/a><\/i>\u00a0anyway. In the pages of her book, Normen explains that we’re often urged to “look on the bright side,” but this advice isn’t helpful for most people.<\/p>\n

In fact, it’s self-defeating.<\/p>\n

When people think negatively, they’re likely to convert their anxiety into action. Negative people are well-aware that they could fail, so they may take more time preparing for possible worst-case scenarios.<\/p>\n

This research was enough to get people intentionally thinking more negatively. (Great, right?) But, before you try it yourself, you may want to consider a few more factors. For instance, the power of negative thinking depends largely on your\u00a0frame of reference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stick with me …<\/p>\n

When Normen studied negative thinking, she found that there were two types of people:\u00a0strategic optimists<\/a>\u00a0and defensive pessimists. In other words, the glass-half-full people and the glass-half-empty people.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, these groups\u00a0succeed best<\/a>\u00a0under different circumstances. For example, if you tell a defensive pessimist to visualize failure before they throw darts at a board, they’re more likely to perform positively.\u00a0On the other hand, if you ask strategic optimists to do the same, they’ll perform worse than they would if they did something positive before playing darts — like listening to relaxing music.<\/p>\n

This is interesting on its own, but here’s where things get fascinating: If defensive pessimists listen to relaxing tapes before they throw darts, they’re 30 percent less accurate than if they visualized missing the target.<\/p>\n

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