The power of negative thinking

The approach of Christmas poses a psychological enigma. Christmas is a holiday in which the emotion of joy should predominate. However, the strenuous effort to be happy on these dates can be exhausting. It's hard to be happy when you miss a loved one or while dining with that brother-in-law you don't swallow.

Psychologists advise us to think positive but sometimes this it can backfire. It's like when they tell you not to think of a white bear. The more you try, the more the white bear appears.

Why do citizens of the most economically insecure countries often report a higher happiness index? They have nothing to lose, they have already known the worst possible scenario.

A pioneer of the "negative path" was the psychotherapist Albert Ellis (died in 2007). He rediscovered a key idea of ​​the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome: sometimes, the best way to deal with an uncertain future is to focus not on the best, but the worst.

To overcome fear of embarrassment, Ellis advised his clients to ride the New York subway and to speak the names of the stations aloud as they passed through them. His patients had a hard time but found that his fears were exaggerated: nobody said anything to them, they only received strange looks.

The Stoics practiced the technique called "The premeditation of evils": They thought about every detail of the worst-case scenario, which considerably reduced their anxiety.

Psychologist Julie Norem estimates that about a third of Americans instinctively use this strategy that she calls "Defensive pessimism". Positive thinking, on the other hand, is the effort to convince yourself that things are going to go well, which can reinforce the belief that it would be absolutely terrible if things did go wrong.

In American corporations, the most widely accepted doctrine is the "cult of positivity." The importance of setting big, bold goals for an organization and employees are encouraged (or compelled) to set goals that are "smart": specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.

However, this goal fixation is beginning to unravel. During a study that was done on the matter, 45 successful entrepreneurs were interviewed. Almost none carried out comprehensive business plans or carried out extensive market research.

Some of them did imagine the worst possible scenario. Instead of focusing on the possibility of spectacular rewards for your company, they calculated what the financial cost of a bad decision would be. If the potential loss was tolerable, they made the decision.

The point of this negative thinking is not to provoke happy emotions or to pursue success. It's about being realistic by accepting the fact that the future is uncertain and that this life there are inevitable surprises, both positive and negative.

The power of negative thinking is especially important when we talk about an inevitable fact of life: death. One of the most famous phrases of Steve Jobs is related to this aspect:

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

However, we may be tempted to agree with Woody Allen's position on death:

"I am very much against her."

I think it is much better to face it than to avoid it. There are some facts in life that even the most powerful positive thought cannot alter.