Blind Positivity Sucks.
BY JON WESTENBERG
I don’t like being told to stay positive. It’s a standard response that people like to give when everything goes to shit in your life. I’ve heard it over and over again. After a breakup, after my company failed, after I lost every cent I had to my name.
“Stay positive.”
Do you know what it really means?
“Ignore your problems. All of them.
It can sometimes feel like everyone on the internet is obsessed with positivity and inspiration and motivation. There are so many graphics and Instagram posts and listacles about how positive energy will change your life, and you have to ignore the haters. The advice claims that you have to believe you’re going to win, you can’t worry about your problems, you need to stop stressing. As though a positive mind set really will make every aspect of your life better and solve your crushing problems.
You’ll get fit. You’ll make money. You’ll be the Next Big Thing.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Positivity that calls for you to hide behind “good vibes” instead of facing up to the reality of your life is never going to be healthy. It will never support you or prop you up. All it can ever do is provide you with a sense of hope built up on a platform so fucking weak that it falls apart at the first sign of strain.
Blind positivity is your social media feed full of curated posts about feeling #blessed. Blind positivity is believing that your dreams will come true instead of putting in the hard work to make it happen. Blind positivity doesn't pay the rent, buy food or put gas in your car. And it doesn't help you start a company.
For entrepreneurs, this is a particularly huge problem. Start-up inspiration is everywhere, in the form of stylised (and often misused, re-worded or taken out of context) advice from successful multi-billionaires.
Do any of these sound familiar?
All of that sounds great doesn't it? Just say yes. Don’t worry. Be a believer. It’s inspiring, and it makes you believe that if you repeat positive mantras to yourself constantly, everything will turn out right. But how often does that happen?
The harsh reality for most start-up founders is that they don’t know if anything will work out. They have no idea whether their idea will be a devastating failure, and this kind of blind positivity might make their employees feel OK about staying late, but it won’t feed their families if your company goes bust.
Those founders above? They've done some pretty great things. Built airlines. Revolutionised cloud storage. And whatever the hell Theranos actually does. But trust me when I tell you, they didn't accomplish anything by thinking positive and blindly ignoring their challenges. They didn’t just think positive, they worked and planned and did things.
There are going to be times in your life where staying positive is just not an option. These are the times when things have gone truly terribly, and you can’t see a way out. They happen, sooner or later, to everyone. Getting out of them isn't about believing. It’s about finding tough, realistic solutions.
Succeeding in a start-up isn't about your level of positive energy. It’s just not. It’s about making the right call almost every time, because you can’t afford to be wrong. It’s about compromise and struggle and doing it tough. It’s about having a fair go. It’s about dealing with the realities of how difficult life and work are, and then coming up with solutions for your problems.
Always believe you’re good enough. Always believe anything is possible. But don’t do it at the expense of reality. And don’t think you have to always stay positive.
Thanks for reading — I’m Jon Westenberg. I’m an entrepreneur, writer and avid learner. I advise start-ups and investors on how to build profitable companies and operate with a small business start-up mentality. You can read more about me on my website…
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