Success Spectrum: The Hidden Danger of Over Positivity

Motivation popularly rests on the extent and intensity of positivity. Being a motivational speaker myself, the pitfall is clear as to where positivity ends and over positivity begins. My ‘assumed’ sense of ability to draw the line comes from years of experience of dealing with life, situations and people.

Positivity, no doubt, is essential for an energised life. But so is a sense of realism and knowing what is beyond the realms of possibility. Knowing your limitations is a critical aspect of developing self awareness. In fact, clarity on what you cannot do provides the foundation for knowing what you can do.

As life drives us around, a more mature outlook emerges for many. Put in another way, a more balanced approach sets in, where we are guarded about over positivity, as that can lead to negative consequences. There are so many motivational books and quotes, but the one quote that has caught my imagination is this one by the legendary playwright George Bernard Shaw: “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.”

In these few words lie a world of wisdom. Negative thinking is not always hazardous. In an ecosystem where there is an obsession with positivity, a cautionary query like ‘what if’ can get easily dismissed by the majoritarian positive syndrome. Many career and business decisions can fall a victim to over positivity. Many teams suffer from an inability to respect a contrarian view. For all you know, in that view, which is a kind of ‘intelligent negativity’, may lie the answer or the red flag. All actions, driven by our dreams or aspirations, emerge from positivity, but not providing them cushion with a dose of intelligent negativity could prove to be hazardous.

Intelligent Negativity is like an insurance, which protects you from crossing the line. More than a merely positive outlook what is needed is a balanced approach, which factors in exciting possibilities as well as things going awry. That life is uncertain and unpredictable is a reality, and this cannot be wished away even if you fill yourself with ‘extreme positivity’.

Nobody is capable of running their life entirely by themselves. It takes a lot of other people (known and unknown) and an entire ecosystem (visible and invisible) to run our life. This is both a reality as well as a wake-up call to make us realise the unavoidable inter-dependence imposed on us by nature.

Sometimes, the negative consequences of over positivity can be irreversible. But when we act with a positive outlook and are also grounded in a sense of reality, any setbacks would allow us the bandwidth to fight back and re-emerge.

So, let’s get Real, and Become Real!

(Hariharan Iyer is a seasoned Motivational Speaker, Corporate Trainer and Author of multiple management books. His latest release is Off Stump – Life And Management Lessons From Cricket. He is the Founder-Creator of Hariharan’s School Of Success Education (HSSE) - www.thehsse.com. He is popularly referred to as The Enter-Trainer®. He can be reached on hariharan@thehsse.com).