Re:The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking
by mrxd on Wednesday February 19, 2014 @05:27PM
(#7266843)
> both of those situations are better than sitting at home and thinking "I'm never going to get a job anyways, I might as well not apply".
This just shows that fatalism, whether positive (things will definitely work out) or negative (things will definitely not work out), is a bad thing. It's much better to believe that outcomes aren't predetermined.
A negative fatalistic attitude is self-fulfilling. But some people take an extreme lesson from this: that attitude itself is the sole determining factor of any outcome.
But it's trivial to show that's wrong. Negativity doesn't stop you from taking action: if you think something bad will happen but aren't fatalistic, you will try to stop it. Conversely, positivity doesn't encourage action: if you believe that a positive outcome is preordained, there's no need to take action.
This just shows that fatalism, whether positive (things will definitely work out) or negative (things will definitely not work out), is a bad thing. It's much better to believe that outcomes aren't predetermined.
A negative fatalistic attitude is self-fulfilling. But some people take an extreme lesson from this: that attitude itself is the sole determining factor of any outcome.
But it's trivial to show that's wrong. Negativity doesn't stop you from taking action: if you think something bad will happen but aren't fatalistic, you will try to stop it. Conversely, positivity doesn't encourage action: if you believe that a positive outcome is preordained, there's no need to take action.