“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.”
―Les Brown
How does the quote above resonate with you?
Pause here for a moment and free yourself from distractions: ...Take a deep breath in... exhale slowly... deep breath in... exhale slowly... deep breath in... exhale slowly... calm your mind and be present...
How are you limiting yourself?
...think about that for a moment...
Yesterdays blog spoke about the different types of obstacles we face and ways to overcome them. Let's focus on Personal Obstacles.
Personal Obstacles are related to our psychology, behavior, and state of mind. They include unhealthy habits, debilitating emotions, paralyzing fears, and limiting beliefs.
Direct your focus on any of the above and it will certainly distort reality and sideline you form your future goals.
Here's the upside. Once we acknowledge our shortcomings and face them head on, it is well within our power to turn things around. You can't change what you don't acknowledge. Knowledge is power!
Here are 10 Cognitive Distortions and How to Avoid Them:
1. All-or-nothing thinking: You look at things in absolute, black-and-white categories.
How To Avoid: Get into the habit of challenging yourself to take into account other viewpoints and interpretations of the situation.
2. Overgeneralization: You view a negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
How To Avoid: Question whether evidence exists that suggests things could be different.
3. Mental filter: You dwell on the negatives and ignore the positives.
How To Avoid: Get into the habit of persistently looking for the good in every situation.
4. Discounting the positives: You insist that your accomplishments or positive qualities don’t count.
How To Avoid: Say "thank you"... Challenge yourself to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments and positive qualities.
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5. Jumping to conclusions: You conclude things are bad without any definite evidence. These include mind-reading (assuming that people are reacting negatively to you) and fortune-telling (predicting that things will turn out badly).
How To Avoid: Begin questioning whether other explanations or possibilities exist.
6. Magnification or minimization: You blow things way out of proportion or you shrink their importance.
How To Avoid: Question whether things are truly as bad as you make them out to be.
7. Emotional reasoning: You reason from how you feel: “I feel like an idiot, so I must be one.”
How To Avoid: Question whether your emotional state of mind is preventing you from seeing things clearly.
8. “Should” statements: You criticize yourself or other people with “shoulds,” “shouldn’ts,” “musts,” “oughts,” and “have-tos.”
How To Avoid: Question whether things must be done a certain way. Possibly there is another way you hadn't yet considered.
9. Labeling: Instead of saying, “I made a mistake,” you tell yourself, “I’m a jerk” or “I’m a loser.”
How To Avoid: Challenge yourself to find evidence that disproves the label you're making in the situation.
10. Personalization/Blame: You blame yourself for something you weren’t entirely responsible for, or you blame other people and overlook ways that you contributed to a problem.
How To Avoid: Question what part you played in the outcome and how you might not be entirely to blame.
There it is... self-awareness is a never ending process. The challenge for us is to not accept the status quo. Continue to be curious, ask why, as we continue on this journey.
Today's Challenge: Make a commitment to overcoming personal obstacles and set yourself up for the win:
Ask Yourself: What am I pretending to know?
Acknowledge your shortcomings
Avoid the distorted assumptions and do some honest soul searching
Seek support if needed
Use gained knowledge and experience to move forward.
How will you overcome personal obstacles that are hindering your progress?
Be intentional and encourage other to do the same and watch what happens.
You got this!
#justdoit, #learnandgrow, #focus, #plan, #leadbyexample, #selfawarness, #levelup, #mindfulness, #yourchoice, #honoryourself, #becurious, #leadershipdevelopment, #lifecoach, #responsibility, #win, #empowerment, #letsgo
Coach Tavia
Related Articles:
10 Cognitive Distortions:
https://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/therese-borchard-sanity-break/10-cognitive-distortions/ 10 Cognitive Distortions that are Sabotaging Your Brain
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