The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success
Anthony Iannarino
Wiley (October 2023)

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Pogo the Possum

According to Anthony Iannarino, “As your guide for the Negativity Fast, my goal is to help you replace the time you spend in a negative state and increase the time you are positive. At one time, I was terribly negative. To improve the quality of my life, I decided to remove the sources of negativity, including my own mindset. It helped me feel better and improved my outlook on life. I called the process the Negativity Fast.”

Iannarino immediately establishes and then strengthens a personal rapport with his reader by effectively using direct address. Wisely, he also depends almost entirely on first-person PLURAL pronouns. For example, “To understand why we are negative and what do about it, we must look to science to learn about the biology and psychology behind negativity. We’ll also look through the eyes of a twentieth-century futurist whose predictions about rapid social change are coming true. But if negativity wasn’t helpful in some way, it wouldn’t exist.”

According to Iannarino, there are four components of negativity bias:

1. Negative Potency
2. Steeper Negative Gradients
3. Negative Dominance
4. Negative Differentiation

“Because these elements work together, all humans have a negativity bias, even if some wallow in that negativity more than others.”

These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Iannarino’s coverage:

o What Science Teaches Us About Negativity (Pages 3-4)
o The ACDC Environment: Stress Under Constant Change (6-10)
o Negativity Is biological, Psychological, and Sociological (10-16)
o Strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (29-30)
o Talking Yourself Out of a Negative State (30-33)

o Empathy Without Knowing Why (41-43)
o Seeing What Is Invisible (46-48)
o The Science of Empathy (53-54)
o The Stoic Solution (65-66)
o Steps to Stop Complaining (66-70)

o The Upside of Complaining (73-75)
o How to Start Practicing Gratitude (81-86)
o The Power of Saying Thank You (90-92)
o Freud and Adler, and The Two Ls: Losses or Lessons (103-106)
o Adversity and Traumatic: Growth Syndrome (108-111)

o Removing the Sources of Negativity (117-119)
o Liminal Thinking (122-123)
o The Cyber Bullies, and, Social Media and the Spread of Negativity (135-138)
o The Science of Social Media and Negativity (145-147)
o The Negativity Fast (191-204)

Keep in mind that the length of  a “fast” will vary among those who embark upon one and that lapses will occur, based on the given  circumstances in what Iannarino characterizes as the “ACDC Environment” (i.e. Accelerating, Constant, Disruptive Change). “One way to combat stress is to build resilience, so we can better cope with the challenges of living in an ACDC environment. Mindfulness can help, and so can building a strong social support system, to develop effective problem-solving skills.” Also keep in mind that each “fast” may have a conclusion but the process must never end. Efforts to avoid or eliminate negativity, increase positivity, reduce fear, and boost success must continue.

While reading The Negativity Fast, highlight key passages, and, record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), page references, and lessons you have learned as well as your responses to the key questions posed within the narrative. These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.