What positive thinking means in practice

TUESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2021

I’m a big fan of positive thinking – believing you can do something if you put in the effort.

But sometimes it feels right to be a Devil’s Advocate, to simply say: It’s not going to work; you’re going to waste your time. Or: the probability is very slim that something will be a success.

Someone will then remind me – of all people – of the power of positive thinking.

The Devil’s Advocate reply: It is perfectly accurate to point out what you can accomplish with the right mindset. But are you aware that success with a particular business requires a massive amount of work? Are you aware that you will have to spend a thousand or more hours on it before you see any returns? Are you ready to focus on it like a steel-cutting laser beam? Are you willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on it?

This is what positive thinking means in practice: To believe that something is already a reality, so much so that you only have to reach out and seize it. And if you believe in it so much, you will spend any amount of time on it, with laser focus and no effort saved, and you will think nothing of spending a serious amount of money on it.

Positive thinking is a force to be reckoned with. But you must be able to prove and show that your thinking is more than just words.

If you can’t do that, then your business is doomed to failure.

And let’s be honest: On how many projects in your life are you really going to put in a thousand hours of hard work? On how many businesses are you going to spend at least months of your life, and hundreds or thousands of hard-earned dollars?

______________________