here is an article I wrote on the power of negative thought

THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING

Much has been written about the power of positive thinking, but very little about the power of negative thinking. Is there power in negative thinking? Yes there is. It is just a different sort of power. It is the power of caution; it is the power of doubt.

Negative thinking has a bad reputation, which really is undeserved. Negative thinking is a powerful force that if properly used can be of great value. Used in the proper amount it can save you hours of wasted time and tons of wasted money. It can save you from working on dead ends and useless objectives.

Negative thinking makes you thing about the worst results that could result from an action. Negative thinking makes you think about safety and security. It is a shield of protection to your well being and your success.

Without negative thinking we would throw caution to the wind and wouldn’t bother to protect ourselves. We would not lock our doors and windows and become victimized by criminals. We would be easy prey to charlatans, quacks and con artists who would not hesitate to harm us in order to take our money from us.

The government has people who think about the worst possibilities. They think about what harm could the criminals and terrorists inflict on our nation. They think in the worst possibilities and our reactions to them. Based on that negative thinking they prepare plans to respond to those threats.

When you are offered a business deal you can not be naïve and only think about the good possibilities; you also have to think about the bad possibilities. Someone may say “Oh think positively” well you also have to think negatively. It is your money that is at risk and any business always has the possibility of failure. There are plenty of people who only thought positively about their investments and now are broke.

When you have a job or project to do, you can not blindly assume that it all will go well. There are thousands of company projects, which were failures. Early warnings and predictions were dismissed as pessimistic talk. When you get your next project take a moment to think of the possible obstacles and dangers.

As we can see negative thinking is good and powerful. But the problem is that a lot of people use too much of it. They become so infused with negative thinking that it becomes an obstacle to their success instead of a protection. Too much negative thinking will stop you from moving forward and derail your progress.

The preachers of positive thinking tell you to get rid of negative thinking. Well they are totally wrong. You have to understand that negative thinking is like salt. You need to eat a little bit of it, but if you eat too much it will hurt you. Don’t be foolish and try to banish negative thinking from your mind, you need it in small amounts. Use the power of negative thinking to protect your life, money and career.