Thoughts on "Believing in Yourself"

[Ben Davis]

---

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering what everyone thinks of the popular philosophy that I see everywhere. It's on Oprah, in movies, and even in children's books.

I'm talking about the "believing in yourself" philosophy. That is, you can do anything if you just believe in yourself.

Personally, I can see the positive aspects of this philosophy. It gives us motivation to continue through hardships or to aspire for our dreams.

My critique is that this philosophy is not really realistic. I can aspire for my dreams, however, I still need other systems (such as getting help from others) in order to get to this so called "dream."

In other words, it is not sufficient in itself.

Thoughts?

---

It's demonstrably untrue that positive belief = positive results. As an example, think of someone with a terminal illness: their positivity is not likely to effect the outcome of their condition (although there are some 'placebo effects').

Also, there are factors which are outside of one's control/influence which mean that one's attitude cannot effect the outcome. As an example, think of someone who goes for a job interview: they may have a great attitude and be thinking positively but if there are many other candidates who are better suited to do the job, attitude will likely make no difference to the outcome.

Where positive thinking really makes a difference is in coping with challenge/failure/loss: if one can 'stay positive' (i.e. retain self-confidence), one has a better chance of learning lessons from the challenge/failure/loss and developing successful coping mechanisms.

There is a flip-side in that if the positivity is governed by self-delusion rather than self-confidence, the lessons learned aren't necessarily the appropriate ones (or aren't necessarily learned at all) therefore having a detrimental effect on one's future judgements.