I take issue with the title of the article, which seems to equate positive thinking with naivety. It's link bait for exactly the people who don't need it: the despondent and cynical.
There are many different things that people mean by "positive thinking".<p>This article seems to confuse prematurely patting yourself on the back with believing it's possible to accomplish your goals.<p>Consider a less radical interpretation- something more along the lines of optimism vs cynicism. Then you can easily see the benefits of positive thinking.<p>Imagining that you can make a difference when pursuing your goal leads you into all sorts of events and skills that a negative state of mind would keep you from.<p>In my mind, it's a question of what tools to apply to different layers of abstraction. Like, you want to overall have a positive, optimistic outlook. Then, use negative thinking when double-checking your work or planning for contingencies.
I actually have discovered this about myself recently. I have left my full time job not long ago so I can start a business and initially was very optimistic about the future and I was taking my time in every task and enjoying the moment but when my worries have increased I started envisioning worst case scenarios in my head and that's when I started getting things done much quicker. Looking back I also think I did well in school thanks to my worries but that also made me lose hair due to stress lol, so it's not always good to worry and a good balance is perfect.
Nobody likes unpleasant feelings. For many people it is even worse than physical pain. Positive thinking and similar strategies offer a seductive way to temporarily suppress negative thoughts and feelings, but deluding yourself will likely bring only disappointment in the end.
The article links to paywalled studies. Psychology studies are often hard to do. Has anyone read the studies to see if they're reasonable or awful?
The key point which is quite valid is that daydreaming about success is not very useful. Contrary to "The Secret" and such self-help books.<p>People seem to succeed if they a) Have a lot of confidence they will succeed AND b) They are fully aware that there will be setbacks, struggle, difficulties, and moments of doubt.<p>Good book on the topic with academic references "Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals" by Heidi Grant Halvorson and Carol S. Dweck.
I realize it's probably not a popular opinion, but I feel that healthy streak of cynicism has helped me more than it has hurt me in life.<p>I guess the learning portion has been not to avoid being cynical, but to avoid expressing cynical sentiment to others. Very few like to hear it. But I believe immediately suspecting official explanations from almost any source to be self serving attempts at deception often lands one closer to actionable truth than simply accepting them at face value.
The premise of the article reminds me of the metric of "fielding average" in baseball. A player can have a high fielding average by playing it safe and by not aggressively running to the ball in play. So, it is possible that a more aggressive player can have a lower fielding average and yet contribute a lot more value to the team.
The author is confusing positive thinking with blind, without-a-plan, plowing ahead. They're not the same.<p>Optimism and positive thinking are close synonyms. Positive thinking is the a belief that there is a solution to the problem and that you, as a problem solver, should be open to the paths that lead to the solution.