We’ve all heard it. “Be positive” they say. “Focus on the good in life” they explain.
“Think, you could be in a much worse situation so you should be thankful
for what you have” they command. Well, screw that. I say, forget being
positive…being negative has its own virtues.
Honestly, I’m not some weirdo who goes out of his way to find things
to be negative about.. Nope, I’m not going to tell you that you should
be always pessimistic and pissed off with the world. But I am going to
tell you that it is absolutely ridiculous to focus 100% on being
positive in your life. Being super incredibly uber-positive is
detrimental to your health (much like eating lead paint). You see,
optimism is a good thing…but blind positivity will keep you from
actually changing your life or making a meaningful impact to this world.
Let me explain
The common thought is that being positive means being right, happy,
and good. Why wouldn’t it, right? Positivity = good. Negativity = bad.
Isn’t that obvious? Well, the short answer is “no.” There is an
annoyingly long answer…but I don’t like long answers…
When you’re 100% focused on being positive, you miss room for growth.
You see, every important thing that’s ever been accomplished is because
someone was pissed off or frustrated at something. They saw something
that was wrong, or evil, or broken, or just annoying, and they found a
way to fix it. Every person who’s every quit an awful job, every person
who’s left an abusive relationship, and every person who’s ever blocked
“Glee” on their Direct TV so their wife wouldn’t make them watch it were
driven to do so because they were rightfully being negative. They
didn’t discount the negative in the world. They acknowledged it and
worked to do something about it.
In many cases that negativity is what will drive you to succeed and
change your life. That burning sense of being unsatisfied with your
current situation will often be what drives you do achieve.
Negativity isn’t necessarily pessimism
Just because you acknowledge the crappy parts of life doesn’t mean
you need to be pessimistic about life. Nope, you should be optimistic,
but it shouldn’t be some sort of blind optimism. Don’t tie your optimism
to a vague sense of positive thought; instead, tie it to your plans,
your goals, and your abilities. Be optimistic about your future because
of what you will be doing to shape it. Be optimistic because you know
that you’ll be working your ass off to make it better.
Your optimism should be your celebration of overcoming or improving
the negative crap that you see around you. Give yourself your reason
for optimism.
Positive action
Great people attach their happiness to taking positive action and
achieving real results. The act of moving forward is satisfying and a
lack of process is unbearable. Those who are successful only feel like
they are truly living if they are moving forward and that’s why they
achieve. It is out of that action that they become positive not some
magical affirmation, mission statement, or force of will.
To focus 100% on positivity, to try to trick your brain into thinking
everything is great, is to prevent yourself from making an impact in
your life and in the world. When you turn a blind eye to what’s wrong in
the world and what’s wrong in your life, you’ll never be able to do
anything to fix it.
So, let yourself be negative every once in a while…but when you do make sure to take real action to make it better.
Please leave all your negative thoughts in the comment section below (but positive thoughts are also more than welcome!)
Joey is an online business guy who loves talking about making
actual accomplishments (not just theoretical personal development
stuff). Check out his current project at http://findyourdamnpurpose.com.
If you want your life to change, but don’t know how to get started,
click to check out the 100% free video course on finding a useful
purpose.
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