Did you know that positive thinking can be dangerous?

The world is filled with different kinds of information. In the informational society today, your life can depend on “which information you select”.

And the ability to decide what is correct and what is not, is the required skill to survive in the ages to come.

Easy positive thinking such as “it seems good” or “it’s OK” can ruin you. You need to protect yourself with beliefs in your decision and “to doubt in a right way”.

Here I will tell you “what is the belief in decision?” and helpful way of thinking. This may not always be true, but I hope you use this as a reference when selecting information.

Don’t be confused by positive thinking　with 7 ways

Contents

1. Learn from the history
2. Numbers never lie
3. Understand in multiphase
4. Make sure by yourself
5. Doubt when no one disagrees
6. Think who is most profitable
7. Believe foot, not mouth
Don’t be confused by positive thinking　with 7 ways

1. Learn from the history

Many of the old sayings are true to our feelings.

The ways of business and trends are changing with ages.

In Japan, it was good to “save money” in the past, but it has become risky nowadays.

On the other hand, people’s minds and body structure won’t change so easily.

Sayings such as “birds of a feather” or “he who gives to the poor, lends to the Lord” are still true today. Also, how traditional Japanese dishes are good for health is proved scientifically.

Before science has developed, humans selected what are good, and instinctively selected things are still used today. We can learn what to select by learning the history.

Here are other sayings: “Pride goes before a fall.” “The impermanence of all things.”

2. Numbers never lie

This is frequently said in management, numbers never lie.

It is people who lie, and we can make numbers tell lies. A good example is a statistic data. Such article as “A data of 1000 people was proved by American research institute that people who eat chocolate can lose weight!” can actually mean of “a data of 1000 people who exercise regularly”, if you take a close look at it.

You can doubt the effect of chocolate, but the point is, “it is a data of 1000 people who exercise everyday, but it is still true that people who eat chocolate are thinner”.

There is an advertisement “the sales has doubled with our service”. May be it is true, but to talk of an extreme, making 10,000 yen to 20,000 yen can be said as “doubled”.

Numbers never lie, always tell us truth. How you understand it is determined by your judgment.

3. Understand in multiphase

When looking at things, it is important to evaluate in many ways.

Person A said an opinion, and Person B can say completely opposite thing. Opinions depend on values of each person. Imagine a glass half filled with water. Thing can change completely whether you think “there is ONLY half of the water left” or “there is STILL some water left”.

We tend to focus on what we can get for return, but there is always a risk before return, or return always comes after risk. There is no such thing as no-risk, high-return.

In a medical field, there is a system of “second opinion”, to have more than one personal doctor to ask for opinions. Just like it, don’t trust only one opinion.

4. Make sure by yourself

Your friend A says the restaurant was “not good”, but your friend B says the same restaurant was “very good”. Which do you trust, if you rely on both for their tastes of foods?

In such case, the best and fastest way is to “try for yourself”. Then suppose you eat at the restaurant and it was very good. Does this mean that you can’t trust friend A?

You ask a waitperson, “I have friends who loved this restaurant and who didn’t much”. Then a waitperson says,

“We recently welcomed new chef, and entirely changed our menu. We are receiving favorable comments since then.”

You can find that both were true, when you check by yourself.

5. Doubt when no one disagrees

It is dangerous to say it right because everybody says so.

Japanese, especially, has a nationality of getting into line with others, so they tend to say “Yes”, following a person with strong saying. Also they tend to spread fake news.

With Twitter or other media which is difficult to specify the source of information, false information is spread “because everybody is retweeting”.

You need to determine who “everybody” is.

6. Think who is most profitable

Information from someone always contains some purpose of a sender. A sender spreads the information because it is his advantage. Whether it is good or bad, information always give advantage to someone.

For example, a TV program tells you to put on a mask to avoid hay fever. It is not you who benefit from it by avoiding symptoms, but it is companies selling masks. Those companies pay a TV program an advertisement expenses as sponsors.

Are you really the one who most benefit from that information? Or is it a relationship of WIN-WIN between you and a sender (or media) of that information? By thinking who is making a profit, you can see the real “purpose” of the information.

7. Believe foot, not mouth

“Please leave this matter to me.” “I really love you.”

You can say anything with your mouth. If you are said “can’t you believe what I say?” don’t believe it. You can only tell whether the person is reliable or not by knowing “if he/she is acting as he/she says”.

Don’t look at “what he says” but “what he does”.

If a person says “you can surely make a profit” and not investing for himself, he is lying. There is no reason he won’t invest, if it can definitely make a profit. Make sure to ask “so you are investing too?”

A truly reliable person is who does what he says. It sounds nothing special, but if you know this you are free from stress of doubting someone for their lies.

Summary