Get Negative to Get Ahead
You read it right: get negative! I am so tired of listening to the motivational idiots and the self-help bozos and all of metaphysical new-agers talk about the power of a positive attitude that I could puke! Just put on those rose-colored glasses, dust off the smiley-face button, plaster that big fake smile on your face and get after it and you will be happy, healthy and successful. Really? How’s that worked for you so far?
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve!” Thank you Napoleon Hill. What if the mind can’t conceive anything and you believe you are an idiot? What are you going to achieve then?
I saw so many people on facebook right after January 1, talking about their resolutions and saying, “If I can believe it, I can achieve it!” Which is another favorite line of the positively handicapped and in my opinion, the positively disillusioned!
Here is the way to make real positive change in your life: GET NEGATIVE! Yep, get negative. Take a realistic look at your life. Slip off the rose-colored glasses and instead use a magnifying glass. Look closely at your results. Recognize and own up to the fact that it was your actions that produced those results. If your results are bad, then your actions were bad. If your results really sucked, then the actions that created those results really sucked. At that point, get negative. Go through every stupid thing you have done. Identify each stupid thought, every stupid action, and feel horrible about every asinine result. Cry about it – tie some emotion to your stupidity! Get so negative about how stupid you have been that you make yourself sick!
Those who will tell you to ignore the bad and instead only reinforce the good are idiots! What if there is not enough good to focus on? And how will ignoring the bad help rid yourself of the bad? It won’t.
Find the bad. Recognize every stupid thing you have done. Get so negative about it that you refuse to continue living that way, choosing that way and accepting those bad results. Then, make the effort it is going to take to change. That’s right – get negative, then get the hell over it! It’s time to take action!
Getting negative and then taking action is what will produce positive results. The challenge we all have is that our results are not quite bad enough to cause us to change. If you are facing foreclosure, or bankruptcy or just got laid off, or been diagnosed with diabetes, then you might be at that point. However, most people are just coasting along, bumping their heads now and again and hoping that things won’t get any worse. As long as things aren’t really all that bad and their back isn’t against a wall, then they won’t actually have to take drastic action. These folks are numb to their true situation. Wake up!
Take stock of where you are right now. Look at every area of your life and figure out where you are financially, with your health, your weight, your relationships, and with your career. Hold up a magnifying glass and do some close examination to figure out the actions you have been taking to give you the results you are living with. If the results are good in one area, then give yourself a pat on the back and keep on doing what you’ve been doing. But if the results are bad in another area, take a closer look and then get negative. Know you deserve more and can do better. Refuse to accept the same results in the future. Vow to change things (your results) by changing your actions. Know that you can do it IF it is important enough for you to do it.
Positive change comes from first recognizing what you have done that you aren’t happy with and then getting negative enough to fix it!
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People Are Idiots And I Can Prove It: A New York Times Bestseller. If you don’t have your copy yet – why not?
That was how I quit smoking. I started looking at all the negative things those cancer sticks were doing to me. The taste, getting winded easily, smelling like smoke all the time, ashing in the car..blah blah blah….. I festered the ideas so bad, one day after puffing on a cigarette, went nauseous and I quit cold turkey and never looked back. That was an important life style change and have never even craved one of those things again. Life is good. 🙂
Larry – double thumbs up, no further comment needed. ?. You’re a total deviation from the norm and as Frank Zappa once said – progress is not possible without it.
I think it’s funny how many times I figure something out and the next day here’s a blog post from you. That’s how I know I’m on the right track! Here’s to synchronicity.
You’re absolutely right. So many people are out in front of crowds telling them all they have to do is follow the Secret or something to be happy. IT TAKES WORK and attention to intention.
That is so great and in time info. ‘Cos a lot of bull***t is happening with this so called positive thinking. It gives try to put the smile of blessed idiot on and notfacing life facts which must be solved. I really think that positive thinking is good idea, but it gives chance to exuse oneself for stagnation.
Larry, I’m such an optimist by nature I could be the love child of Ronald Reagan and Doris Day. But positive thinking alone can be a dangerous trap! You are 100 percent on the money! I can sit here and think good thoughts all day long. That won’t find me a great mate or good work. It certainly won’t help slim my silhouette. Action is the key, pragmatic action.
Perhaps positive focus is the better concept? You decide what you want to do, then focus all your energies and resources toward that goal. However, you also look for the pitfalls and the traps that you’ll find along the way. That’s where negative thinking saves your behind!
A wonderful Passover and/or Easter to all of those who observe, and a great weekend to everyone.
bjth
The anti-Robbins strikes again! While most motivational speakers pat you on the back, the Wingman gives you a steel toed cowboy boot straight up where the sun refuses to show it’s smiling face.
Forest Gump may have said that Stupid IS as Stupid Does, but Larry preaches it from the highest mountain. We’re ALL friggin’ idiots to a degree and we have to look at the idiotic dumbass things we do on a regular basis and feel the pain. Pain is the greatest motivator of all. It teaches lessons and shows us that something is wrong and needs fixing.
It’s ironic in a way – Larry’s “not so sweet and sugary” approach induces great pain within us, but actually helps us to heel at the same time.
Thank you so very much, Mr. Winget. I appreciate your eye opening candor. You can remove the boot from my chute, now.
Way to go Larry!
I agree, we all learn from mistakes and learn quicker from stupid mistakes
Everyone should take heed to your advice, but then again Again, Americans are scare to hear the truth
Larry – I use a wheelchair. A bit over 10 years ago is when I decided to FACE REALITY and begin using the “dreaded” wheelchair. Up until that time, I just buried my head about my condition and lived day to day.
On April 1, 1998, I decided to change my life, despite what others thought. These motivational idiots you talk about likely have never faced adversity! Sometimes, life just sucks. Fighting through those times is a “gut check”, and facing adversity helped me get a “realistic” attitude which positive at some times and negative at the others. These mamby-pambys don’t get it; life is about pushing through fears, not ignoring them! BTW, my life is much better now, at least most of the time.
Bravo again, Larry. As a firm advocate of the current “Cosmic Law” thinking, (because I’ve found it generally WORKS for me) I could certainly argue your logic convincingly. But you sum it up so easily – and correctly – when you said –
“It’s time to take action!”
Without ACTION, all the positive or negative thinking in the world will get you nowhere. Every single thing around us started out as a thought, then an idea. But only after someone took ACTION did it become a reality.
Sit in your chair and think 400 thoughts on how to get rich/better/out of debt/etc… no response from the Universe. ACT on just 1 of those thoughts and your whole world changes.
Sit in your chair, look at your past mistakes and get angry/disgusted/negative… still no response from the Universe. ACT on not making those mistakes again and you become a confident, new person.
ACTION is always what brings about change. No matter what your personal philosophy entails.
Yes I do have something to say…
Sure.. we are all idiots…the crazy thing is we’ve been highly trained to be. Our true nature is much more expansive and amazing than shaming ourselves into change. I coach people everyday who make amazing life and business changes (actually transformations b/c it’s permanent change) who do not have to go thru this process.
Good perspective and it just keeps people at a very normal level of performance.
Get negative or just Get Honest? I’ve observed that folks who get negative are not the healthy types at all. They are looking for someone to blame more times than not. And all those positive folks? It’s like you said, they’re not looking at the whole picture.
It would be nice if we could have a negative attitude toward our ACTIONS/RESULTS rather than ourselves and/or others, but the fact is most don’t. What happens when a child misbehaves? He is probably physically punished. Do you see parents teaching their children to hate the results of their actions? Or just hate/fear punishment? So from early on, the individual receives some kind of punishment for doing wrong – at home, at school, at work – everywhere. So the end result is that when we make bad choices, screw up, hurt someone, it’s not too hard to make the leap to believing that maybe there is something wrong with us. And of course there are those who do good things, make great choices, etc. and believe that there is nothing wrong with them.
So let’s just get honest with ourselves, take responsibility and FORGIVE ourselves (and others) and love ourselves enough to make the change.
The truth is, there is no easy solution to being a great person inside and out. It takes so much work and commitment and the rock solid belief that you can do it EVERYDAY. And enough self-love to forgive yourself when you fail. And most of all the understanding that the majority of people around you will stay just the way they are.
I whole-heartedly despise romance novels. I had a history professor who would remind me that at least the folks who loved that genre were reading SOMETHING. You say that you’re tired of the “positive attitude” crap. But aren’t those folks at least TRYING to wake up SOMETHING in their listeners? If I had not explored the words of so many of those positive thinkers, I would have never found you. I still find a lot of inspiration from the “positive” types, but nothing woke me up like your words – “The hardest thing you will ever do from the time you’re born to the time you die is go to the mirror, look at yourself and say, ‘You know, this is all my fault.'”
There is nothing negative about that statement. Just wonderful honesty.
you hit it Larry! I hate that “just think positive” NO…
you can have the right mindset and stay in the same spot. Take action!
Look at what you’ve been doing…it’s got you where you are, so just thinking differently will not change it, you have to act on it.
The only way you will act is if you SICK of what you have so far.
To get sick of it, you need to get negative!
Good stuff
Works for me!! Get mad, &itch about it, change it! You feel so much better!!!!
Larry, I just love the way you say things – simple and right to the point. Keep it up.
The only part left to attack in Larry’s power of negative thinking is his allegiance to “getting ahead”. Once you start just focusing on reality and taking care of business you don’t have to fixate on getting ahead anymore. Giving up on the ‘better life’, the ‘better income’, the ‘better situation’ and just dealing effectively with what is in front of you I think is the power of his message. Results today – future be damned!
I’ve been in a marraige for 20 years with a man who has been emotionally abusive for the past 13. (He was recently diagnosed bi-polar) I spent so much time crying that the doctor put me on meds and sent me to the thearapist for depression. It took a while, but I did exactly what you said. I looked at everything I’m unhappy about in my life. Now, I’m working two jobs, finishing up my first Bachelor’s degree and saving money so I can leave. Getting rid of the negative after dealing with it will allow for a more positive lifestyle.
Thank you Larry for your honesty and bluntness. I’ve read all of your books so far and they have really made me think about my life and what I really want out of it.
Thanks to all those people who make me feel angry and who don’t give me good customer service, who are arrogant…to me…I have paid all my credit to the banks just in few months!!
Why?!? – just beacuse they make me feel mad and angry…make my heart beating hard…
Only that makes me more determined and concentrated to do something, to take action, to go ahead…just to be myself…and feel like a winner…
thank you Larry once again for all your books, advices…and looking forward seeing your new things on the market…
Thank you Larry for bringing all the books and information to the light. I remember all the mistakes I made, like getting married too young, weighing 350 lbs and looking in the mirror and saying to myself, “What the hell am I doing.”
I have learned alot in my life. I have read and experienced alot, also. I have read books by Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, etc……. After awhile, they all sound the same.
Larry nails it. I have all of Larry’e books and they say more than the 2000+ books that I have read. Take action, Take action, Take action!!!!Thanks again for all that you do.
Well, that is about how I was living my whole life. In socialist countries it was known as “self-criticism” or at least that is how I understood the concept.
Unfortunately, a lot of your problems are not caused by yourself, i.e. you actually cannot do otherwise. You are forced by the system. For instance, if you are living in a “poorish” country, and you work for peanuts, you are not guilty for working for peanuts: you cannot do otherwise, because all wages are actually peanuts. And, you could do worse — how does it go “for a bowl of rice and an ass wooping” (something like that).
Therefore, I do not sincerely believe that being positive, or being negative changes things. The most important thing is WHERE were you born, and OF WHAT PARENTS. It’s time someone acknowledges that we are, unfortunately, not at all equal, and by that I do not mean “as persons” but in the worst of the senses, and politically incorrect — by birthright.
Regards,
Alex
I hope you are saying that negative comparisons to what you want your life to really be like helps all of us begin to take action to change for the better? Not just positive thinking is weak and negative thinking is for the truly enlightened.
Some thoughts:
Physiologically aren’t there differences between positive thoughts and what negative thoughts do to our bodies? I get sick just thinking about it comes to mind.
Isn’t there research that maintains the health of individuals can be attitbuted to their thinking? Sad, angry, frustrated, sick and tired! Not laughter or positive thoughts of joy is the best medicine, but a good dose of you are going to die helps someone who is fighting cancer!
So according to the negative thinking idea I must constantly think about being sick so that one day I will take action and I can be healthy and happy. I must think about being poor and give my mind a complete picture of debt so that one day I can take action and be wealthy. Even though I want to go south I should think about going north?
Poisitive thinking will not help you do anything… but it seems to work a lot better than negative thinking. It gives you a direction to head to instead of avoid.
I am a failure! I am lazy, I am no good, I am a procrastinator! If those are my thoughts then I can either accept them as truth or decide I want to go in a different direction.
I think this is semantics and I applaud you for getting people to realize that they are responsible for their thoughts and ultimately their actions – however fear is but one path that motivates people. There is also hope and a dream for something better.
PS- thanks for your good ole common sense about money!
Thanks again Larry.
A business that that does not take an inventory of its assets and liabilities is bound to go broke. I know as a person, I am the same way.
I recall that Dale Carnegie kept a drawer in a file cabinet labeled “Darn Fool Things I Did Today”. It was to remind him not to do those things again.
Regards,
Rick
Singapore
Larry,
Bravo for the great post. I also have read books by Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Tom Peters, etc. The messages are all the same. I agree if thinking positive was all it took to be successful, most of us would be.
We have to take stock of our lives and get tired of the results we see. After reading a few chapters in your book “People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It” I had an epiphany. I realized that I am a very direct person much like you and hate all this political correctness. I ride a Harley motorcycle, love to wear jeans, Harley shirts and lot of jewelry. I decided that I will do whatever it takes to be the person I truly am and not some impostor. I am basically sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have no one to blame for my life but me. You were right on when you said that our lives show what it is important. I was at a point in my life where I just didn’t give a damn after my daughter was murdered last year.
I needed the kick in the butt with your direct style. I have completed all the exercises in the first few chapters and I am really mad that I have wasted so many years of my life just being mediocre. I am now working on my vision for my life. Please don’t stop writing. I will continue to read your books and posts. They keep me motivated.
Larry, I like the way you think. I have seen you on TV before but this is my first visit to your blog.
I must say that I appreciate you honest outlook and solid advice. I plan to spend more time here.
I just might learn something.
Hi Larry,
I have needed to hear what you have to say, the way you say it, for a long time. I am a 34 year old BOY who hasn’t done a damn thing to better my finantial or career situation. I just finished two of your books, (given, they are audio books, but I gotta’ start somewhere) and have set my goal for 20 books or audio books in the next 12 months. I am starting my small business by November 2010, and want to read “Goerrilla Marketing” next. There are a few versions, so which would you recomend? Thanks again for shooting it strait and realizing you need to be tough to a get it across to somebody like me. I look foreward to your response. Mitch
Just checking in to get a shot of reality. Thanks Larry for keepin it real. I like the way you think.