9 Thinking Habits to Avoid in 2018
Sometimes our thinking habits can deflate us. If we can identify those thought processes, we can take the first step to breaking them.
Do you:
- Over-generalize? When a single incident in your life becomes a huge pattern of defeat, you are overgeneralizing. This is what I always do. I never get it right.
- Succumb to “all or nothing” thinking? Your performance has to be perfect or you’re a failure. There is no room for gray. You are either successful or a loser.
- Become preoccupied with the negative events and discount the positives?
- Jump to conclusions? You believe that you know what others are thinking and it is always negative? You predict negative outcomes. I will never get this job.
- Magnify or minimize abilities? You magnify or exaggerate someone else’s achievements and minimize your own.
- Allow your feelings to dictate your reality? If I feel it, it must be so. If I feel I am a failure, I must be a failure.
- Use “should” statements? I should have done this. Should statements make you feel guilty and unsuccessful.
- Label behaviour and call yourself names? I am an idiot. I must be crazy.
- Blame yourself for things for which you are not completely responsible?
These patterns of thinking are habits that we develop over the course of our lives. If we can identify them, we can begin to challenge ourselves to work on breaking these unhelpful habits and to feel better about ourselves and approach life with a more affirmative attitude.
