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CHAPTER 1 / FORGET JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU WERE EVER TOLD ABOUT POSITIVE THINKING16 NO B.S. Guide to Succeeding in Business by Breaking All the Rulesmisinterpreted, misunderstood authors in our genre. If he were alive, I think he%u2019d applaud this book.Here are the main ways people get misled with %u201cpositive thinking.%u201d#1: %u201cDon%u2019t Be Negative!%u201dThis is the cry of the demented organization turning against its sole, sane voice. I have many times observed the individual who dares to raise questions about the viability of a particular idea shouted down with %u201cDon%u2019t be negative!%u201dThere is a joke many motivational speakers tell, as a positive illustration of positive thinking: A guy has tripped and fallen off the roof of a 30-story building. He is falling toward certain death. Someone yells out the 15th-story window, %u201cHow are you doing?%u201d And the falling fellow hollers back, %u201cOkay so far!%u201d This has been told at countless sales meetings and seminars. But it is NOT an accurate representation of %u201cpositive thinking%u201d as Peale meant it to be. It does not illustrate positive thinking. It illustrates stupidity.The idea that raising questions, doubt, skepticism, and reasons why something may not work marks you as a %u201cnegative thinker,%u201d a cancer to be cut out, a dangerous voice to be ignored is sick and stupid.Cynicism is unhealthy. Optimism is helpful and desirable. But blind, stubborn, unwarranted optimism is stupid.An excellent little book by Dr. Edward Kramer, written as a rebuttal to Peale%u2019s book, is titled: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking. One of Kramer%u2019s premises is that if you carefully anticipate every possible way your plan or endeavor can be disrupted, derailed, or sabotaged and you proactively prohibit as many of those things as you can, and have a %u201cPlan B%u201d for every one you can%u2019t effectively prohibit, you then not only boost your odds of success, you liberate your mind from nagging worries and anxiety, allowing it to perform at peak capability. That last point is important. Dale Carnegie wrote a book with the compelling title: