People don't want to have too much of a positive expectation for fear of being disappointed. So they take the only other option: expecting a negative outcome.

How does that work out for you?

Fear of failure is failure in itself. So if you're afraid to expect success, by definition you're asking to fail.

A positive expectation doesn't guarantee success, but a negative mindset pretty much guarantees failure. Try, just try, to expect a positive outcome for once. Expect success. Visualize and try to feel how it will feel to have succeeded. If it doesn't happen, what did you lose?

And you never know -- it just might work.