Beware of the positive thinking blind spot

I have nothing negative to say about positive thinking.

But…

Cross a limit on positive thinking and it will start showing its negative side.

I picked three jokes to make a point on a lighter note:

#1

Doctor:
“Your Liver is enlarged.”

Patient:
“Does that mean it has space for more whiskey?”

#2

Lady to her dietician:
“I am not worried about my weight, but I AM worried about my height.”

Dietician:
“I don’t understand…”

Lady:
“According to my weight, my height should be 7’8”, but I am barely touching 5’4” – don’t know what to do.”

#3

A Man wrote a letter to the Bank Manager. The excerpt is below:

“My Check was returned with remark ‘Insufficient funds’. I am shocked. You are such a reputed bank and you can’t even maintain sufficient funds to honor my check..”

You can smile all you want on the jokes above, but it is worth reflecting on areas where you are taking a shortcut to get what you want.

There are many ways to detect a blind spot in your positive thinking, but a quest for the shortcut tops it all.

The media stories that typically feature “exceptions” makes one think that there may just be that ONE shortcut that can take them to glory.

A shortcut is a quest to fulfill your wish with limited or no work.

In my mini-research, I found that many smart people also take shortcuts – just not very forthcoming to admit them publicly.

Some people also told me openly that it’s not their quest for shortcut – they are simply putting the “law of attraction” to work. Sometimes I wonder whether they know that the laws of physics will trump the law of attraction.

Positive thinking should never become a substitute for putting the effort you should put to get what you want and become who you want to become.

Positive thinking has its place and it’s best to keep it just there.

Key highlights from this blog post