We’ve been exploring the power of positive thinking for a few weeks. It’s such an important topic because one of the biggest roadblocks to becoming a super-productive writer is poisonous negative thinking.

Writing for life is a hard road, with lots of curves and bumps and giant walls that suddenly appear on the horizon. if writers can’t learn to change the self-talk and transform negative thinking into productive, positive thinking, all the free time in the world won’t help a writer crank out great books.

Positive attitudes have been called “the undo effect” (Barbara Fredrickson, Positivity). They help us to quickly recover from negative emotions. When we generate a positive perspective, it helps us bounce back. And that “bouncing back” brings motivation or impetus. Which is what we need to be productive. Wallowing never got a book written.

Think of it this way: negativity is like a vise grip that squeezes and constricts our creativity. Negative emotions such as fear, anger, blame, and resentment narrow our focus in a way that obscures options.

Worry, especially, paralyzes us. We worry our books will get bad reviews. We worry that our plot is stupid. We worry that we’ll never sell a copy, so why waste all this time.

Studies were done with highly stressed students about to give speeches. In under a minute, their cardiovascular system relaxed (heart rate down, blood pressure lowered, artery constriction lightened) when these students were shown a movie clip of peaceful ocean waves and puppies frolicking. Other studies show that the more people entertain positive emotions, the quicker they can let go of negative ones.