Negative? Thinking...
Too much is made out of negative thinking in our society. "Be positive" is the mantra for meeting the requirements of the definition of success. If someone is worried about the outcome of any event, others in the team are quick to soften them up by asking them not to be negative. Depending upon their age, negative thinkers are also termed as 'Devil's advocates' in some groups. Alexander has not become 'the great' by thinking negative. According to Management Historians or Historical Managers, he was either not thinking or was thinking positive.
Now what has positivity got to do with anything? It's a good question to ask but I doubt if we will ever get an honest answer from many of these management gurus. Not because there is no answer but it is probably an incovenient truth. Let me take an example.
The closest to positive and negative that we can come across is the flow of current. It flows from the negative terminal to the positive terminal. It's a historical truth and a scientific theory that needs to be accepted as right until the next Edison or Ohm or Einstein comes along. So, electric current happens when the negatively charged electrons move towards the positively charged terminals. The positive carriers themselves are immobile and just are sitting and waiting at the other end to receive the negative carriers. This is the fundamental belief, though there will always be arguments about the movement of protons in some Electrolytes and/or the conventional current theory that talks about the flow of positive charge.
Negative carriers are, therefore, active and energetic and are constantly moving towards the positive terminal. Once they reach there, they become positive and immobile or may be just jump out of the wire, I could never figure that anyways. The conclusion then is that to be negative one needs energy and it is damn simple to be positive.
In the 'success world' this is how it translates. If you are a negative thinker, you are more cautious and try to make plans for all eventualities and possibilities. It takes a lot more effort to complete a task if you are all negative about it. That means you need more energy and action to be negative. That is, if you have decided to take up the task despite being negative about it. If you do not take up the task, then you are doomed to be a failure. The exact definition of failure, therefore, is not taking up enough tasks, working less and thinking more. That doesn't mean you will be poor in monetary terms. There are so many professions that fit the description above and that are highly paid. All it means is that you were a negative thinker and hence immobile. Wait a minute ! Did we not learn that the positively charged protons are immobile in an electric wire? Does it mean that those who are immobile are positive carriers? What about all the negativity? Do we then conclude that positive carriers are negative thinkers and vice-versa?
If you have taken up a task and are being negative about it, then you are a negative carrier that needs all the requisite energy levels to move towards the positive state. So, an active negative carrier with enough energy is actually bound to be positive at somepoint in time. And then when you do reach the positive state, you become immobile and/or jump off the wire. Either way, you now have all the characteristics of a negative thinker that never takes off. But you are also a positive carrier.
Positive thinking on the other hand, is about being a negative carrier. You start off and are active. More importantly, you just don't care about anything but the positive terminal. You avoid all other ions on the way to draw a straight line between the positive and negative terminals. Once you reach the positive terminal, you become immobile and/or jump off the wire. The important thing about being a negative carrier and positive thinker is that no one knows any better. Do not worry about reaching the positive end state because everything and everyone else is too damn busy to worry about your journey. So being a positive thinker means being less of a thinker and more of a doer. Same is the case with a negative carrier.
Now, therefore, we have three kinds of people and their end states. 1) Negative thinkers who never take off and hence immobile 2) Negative thinkers who take off to become positive carriers and hence immobile 3) Positive thinkers who take off to become a negative carrier on their way to becoming a positive carrier and hence immobile. There is a fourth category of positive thinkers who never take off and hence are positive carriers and hence immobile (Do I hear you say "Guru"?)
The end state in all the cases seem to be of becoming a positive carrier and immobile. What do we conclude from this? I have no idea but I am positive that you will figure it out. Or, may be negative. Well, positively negative !
I am sure Alexander The Great was never bogged down by such concerns. After all he was a positive thinker who, in his quest for supremacy and 'greatness', was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in wars and their consequences. Negative carrier, anybody?
Niren
Now what has positivity got to do with anything? It's a good question to ask but I doubt if we will ever get an honest answer from many of these management gurus. Not because there is no answer but it is probably an incovenient truth. Let me take an example.
The closest to positive and negative that we can come across is the flow of current. It flows from the negative terminal to the positive terminal. It's a historical truth and a scientific theory that needs to be accepted as right until the next Edison or Ohm or Einstein comes along. So, electric current happens when the negatively charged electrons move towards the positively charged terminals. The positive carriers themselves are immobile and just are sitting and waiting at the other end to receive the negative carriers. This is the fundamental belief, though there will always be arguments about the movement of protons in some Electrolytes and/or the conventional current theory that talks about the flow of positive charge.
Negative carriers are, therefore, active and energetic and are constantly moving towards the positive terminal. Once they reach there, they become positive and immobile or may be just jump out of the wire, I could never figure that anyways. The conclusion then is that to be negative one needs energy and it is damn simple to be positive.
In the 'success world' this is how it translates. If you are a negative thinker, you are more cautious and try to make plans for all eventualities and possibilities. It takes a lot more effort to complete a task if you are all negative about it. That means you need more energy and action to be negative. That is, if you have decided to take up the task despite being negative about it. If you do not take up the task, then you are doomed to be a failure. The exact definition of failure, therefore, is not taking up enough tasks, working less and thinking more. That doesn't mean you will be poor in monetary terms. There are so many professions that fit the description above and that are highly paid. All it means is that you were a negative thinker and hence immobile. Wait a minute ! Did we not learn that the positively charged protons are immobile in an electric wire? Does it mean that those who are immobile are positive carriers? What about all the negativity? Do we then conclude that positive carriers are negative thinkers and vice-versa?
If you have taken up a task and are being negative about it, then you are a negative carrier that needs all the requisite energy levels to move towards the positive state. So, an active negative carrier with enough energy is actually bound to be positive at somepoint in time. And then when you do reach the positive state, you become immobile and/or jump off the wire. Either way, you now have all the characteristics of a negative thinker that never takes off. But you are also a positive carrier.
Positive thinking on the other hand, is about being a negative carrier. You start off and are active. More importantly, you just don't care about anything but the positive terminal. You avoid all other ions on the way to draw a straight line between the positive and negative terminals. Once you reach the positive terminal, you become immobile and/or jump off the wire. The important thing about being a negative carrier and positive thinker is that no one knows any better. Do not worry about reaching the positive end state because everything and everyone else is too damn busy to worry about your journey. So being a positive thinker means being less of a thinker and more of a doer. Same is the case with a negative carrier.
Now, therefore, we have three kinds of people and their end states. 1) Negative thinkers who never take off and hence immobile 2) Negative thinkers who take off to become positive carriers and hence immobile 3) Positive thinkers who take off to become a negative carrier on their way to becoming a positive carrier and hence immobile. There is a fourth category of positive thinkers who never take off and hence are positive carriers and hence immobile (Do I hear you say "Guru"?)
The end state in all the cases seem to be of becoming a positive carrier and immobile. What do we conclude from this? I have no idea but I am positive that you will figure it out. Or, may be negative. Well, positively negative !
I am sure Alexander The Great was never bogged down by such concerns. After all he was a positive thinker who, in his quest for supremacy and 'greatness', was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in wars and their consequences. Negative carrier, anybody?
Niren
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