Being Positive about Thinking Negatively

Above: Atul Gawande in surgical scrubs (From the Harvard University Gazette archives).

"NEGATIVE THINKING MAY BE EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED."

In the eyes of a positive thinker... that quote shocked the hell out of me!

Atul Gawande, one of my inspirations behind starting up this blog, is one of my favorite medical authors. I've read two of his books, Complications and Better. They deal with the essence of medicine's imperfections and how doctors maximize their own performance, respectively. Through the books, Gawande's excellent narration guides the reader to feel like he/she is in the action, actually holding the surgical instruments and under those huge, bright surgical lamps in the operating room. Also via adding appropriate detail, he also sets the aura and emotion (for both doctors and patients) that makes every medical situation exciting and unique. I read his books to remind me of the excitement the medical field whenever studying pages of raw material in my review books starts to make me feel all punchy in the ole' noggin.

As I was scanning through Gawande's site a few nights ago, one link caught my eye. In a 2007 New York Times article called The Power of Negative Thinking, Gawande describes the need for antagonistic-like thinking. He uses the then-current controversial situation at Walter Reed Hospital to describe two-sides of hospital care there: how staff before and during medical treatment were taught to negatively think, while post-treatment, staff kept their positive thinking. The results: deep analysis of problems that patients had resulted in better treatment, while all who thought that everything was "A-ok" in the rehabilitation process ended up harming the patients down the road.

Gawande's right. It is discouraging to think negatively for ourselves; most of us want to think positively to get through things (sometimes to even avoid them, I think). It's easy to avoid wanting to think that there's imperfections within us... I could see how for a perfectionist that thinking negatively could lead to what Gawande calls "a state of perpetual dissatisfaction." (Just imagine every moment of the day leading to some type of criticism... disturbing!) However, let's spin this idea positively: how do situations improve if one doesn't know the imperfections to look at? Progress of humanity doesn't come without changing a few things around, especially obstacles that block getting to goals. It seemed like Gawande's ultimate point was this: without thinking negatively in business or humanitarian situations, loopholes can be missed, resulting in failures.

After reading this article, I can see how the two opposites work best hand-in-hand. Through negative thinking, issues that need to be addressed can be identified, but I believe it is through a positive (and forward) attitude that they'll be actually be addressed (and addressed well).

Put the yin and the yang together... and there's one of man's greatest gifts: critical thinking.