I agree. This reminds me of an anime (Kaiji [1]) that conveys this idea in excruciating form, and in particular highlights the converse of your positive thinking: that negative thinking results in often-debilitating myopia.
or the myopia leads to an intense focus and drive ... which you obsess over and use to solve a deep problem... (spurred on by the negativity).. that other people just ignore and sweep under the rug.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiji_(manga)