Many pragmatic, scientific people dismiss the power of positive thinking because they assume positive thinking means thinking only.  “So what, I’m just supposed to believe I’m the writer of a national bestseller and then I’ll magically become the writer of a national bestseller?” skeptics scoff, “I call bullshit.”  But visualizing what we most passionately yearn for and believing it’s possible isn’t just about wishing for something to happen-it’s about doing something in the real world.  As Jen Sincero hilariously points out:

“Sadly, we can’t just float around in our neighbor’s pool on a raft with cup-holders, sipping cocktails and being all high frequency while waiting for unicorns to fly down from the sky.  We have to take action-hell-bent-for-glory kind of action.”  

If we actually want to compose the next great American novel, we can’t just believe the opportunity is really, truly available to us- we have to scribble.

The ancients called this the “vita activa” or the life of action.  I myself have never been good at living outwardly.  Like many of us, I prefer to plot and plan, to brainstorm and reflect, to brood and muse, the “vita contemplativa.”  Before I approach any goal-training for a marathon for instance-I’ll research, ransack the library, and read every book on the subject, buy the most technologically advanced, highest-rated pair of New Balances, create a detailed work out schedule but actually strap on my running shoes?  That takes awhile.  But that, of course, is the most important step.  If I just sat on a paisley rug chanting and sniffing incense, I’d never win my race.  So the key to positive thinking is this: conceive, believe, then resolutely, decisively take action.