Debunking Positive Thinking in 200 Words

I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

Self-help gurus have long profited off the claim that positive thoughts, or a positive mental attitude (PMA), can lead directly to improvements in one’s life and career.

But as noted in an earlier post on the pitfalls of mentorship, research shows that race, gender, cognitive ability, and other factors that are outside of one’s control (or not easily malleable) have a much greater influence on success and career recognition than “PMA”.

Having a positive outlook on life, it turns out, is not a strong indicator of success.

A Case of Confirmation Bias

A white male born wealthy and well-connected who happens to believe in “the power of positive thinking” will undoubtedly look inward, to his own mind and brain, when asked to explain how he became successful.

In reality, positive thinking wasn’t the “secret” to his success, it was the byproduct.

Attitude Isn’t Everything

To clarify, the takeaway from above’s hypothetical isn’t that successful people don’t work hard for or deserve their success—it’s that perpetually grumpy, negative people can be successful too!