Be Positive or B+
Suppose you are coaching a baseball team. Suppose it is the last inning and the other team has the bases loaded with two out. You are one run ahead.
You head to the mound with the idea of clarifying everything for the pitcher and the catcher. Your well-intended advice – “Don’t walk him.”
Big mistake.
Your brain and the pitcher’s brain, work differently than you think. The brain deals most readily with positive statements. The brain is both highly efficient and highly lazy. The brain sees a negative statement as causing work.
With a negative statement the brain is forced to discover the positive action that will carry out the request. If the brain gets tired of looking for that or cannot decide among alternatives, it will act on the positive part of the original statement.
“Don’t walk him, becomes “Walk Him.”
That ends badly.
Instead, pass your requirement along as a positive statement.
“Throw strikes.”
Both statements express the same thought, but the positive one will work more often. It actually conveys what you want and it conveys the general approach to achieving it. This is one of the times when B+ is good.
Reconsider how you instruct your children, your employees, and most of all yourself.
Source: http://moneyfyi.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/be-positive/