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A great article, with an unfortunate title. It isn't so much about negative thinking, as it is about being pragmatic instead of falsely optimistic. I loved the survey of 45 successful entrepreneurs:

"Rather than choosing a goal and then making a plan to achieve it, they took stock of the means and materials at their disposal, then imagined the possible ends"

Really interesting.

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That quotes reminds me of playing Settlers of Catan. I remember when I first played I would notice someone win with a certain strategy and I'd go into the next game trying to replicate it. Since then I've realized the importance of adapting your strategy based on each board. I never know what strategy I'm going to use until I look at the board and place my cities and even then it changes mid game based on which resources are most plentiful.

When I read negative thinking, I expected the "expect the worst and you won't get disappointed". This is more of imagining the worst thing that could happen, and realizing it's not that bad. Which is not really pessimistic; maybe rather optimistic by proxy.

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