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CHAPTER 1 / FORGET JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU WERE EVER TOLD ABOUT POSITIVE THINKINGNO B.S. Guide to Succeeding in Business by Breaking All the Rules 17How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. The best way I know to STOP WORRYING is to have taken time to plan for every eventuality so you know in advance what to do if any one of them actually rears its head. If you happen to be a sales manager reading this, I have some specific, contrarian advice for you. Instead of going into the weekly meeting as a low-rent motivational blowhard, exhorting the troops to %u201cthink positive%u201d and decrying those who dare %u201cthink negative,%u201d dig in and do a real job, so you can go in there with a marketing, prospecting, and sales plan of substance so that the troops have something worth being optimistic about.And for salespeople, negotiators, or others who seek to persuade or influence, I teach %u201cthe positive power of negative preparation%u201d: carefully identifying and acknowledging every possible objection that may be raised, every reason for saying no or stalling possible, and every flaw or weakness in your product, service, or proposition. Get all that %u201cnegative stuff %u201d down on paper. Then you can intelligently prepare to deal with those things. Then you will not be %u201cthrown for a loop%u201d when these things raise their ugly heads. Then you can reasonably and realistically expect positive outcomes. Mike Vance, a longtime, close associate of Walt Disney, with a long, successful career as a popular lecturer on creativity, once said you could distill Dale Carnegie%u2019s advice to %u201csmile whether you feel like it or not,%u201d but that a much better idea was %u201cget a reason to smile so you can feel like it.%u201d#2: Positive Thinking as PanaceaHaving carefully read every one of Dr. Peale%u2019s books and talked with him personally at some length, I can assure you that he never meant for people to go sit in the corner, think positive thoughts, and expect riches to materialize in the backyard. Yet a lot of people sally forth believing that if they just think positive thoughts, everything in their life is supposed to change as a result. There are even a few metaphysical-leaning motivational speakers who teach such silliness. A few years back, one of these