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50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 8

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self esteem walk picSelf Esteem:

32. Little Steps for Big Feats: If you have trouble with procrastination, you can break large, overwhelming tasks down into small steps that you can tackle one at a time. If you tell yourself you have to clean the entire garage today, you’ll never get started. Instead, break it down into small steps. Tell yourself you only have to carry two cardboard boxes out to the trash. That will feel far less overwhelming and you may end up doing a great deal more than you planned.

33. Anti-Procrastination Sheet: This is similar to Little Steps for Big Feats but it’s more sophisticated. Break a large task down into small steps and predict how difficult and how satisfying each step will be on a scale from 0% to 100%. Record these predictions on the Anti-Procrastination Sheet. After completing each small step, record how difficult and satisfying it turned out to be on a scale  from 0% – 1o0%. Now compare your predictions with the outcome. Many people discover that each small step is far easier and much more rewarding than they expected.

Anti-Resistance Techniques

34. Straightforward Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA): List the advantages and disadvantages of a Negative Thought (I’m such a loser) or Self-Defeating Belief (I should be perfect). You can also do a CBA for a negative feeling like anger, guilt, or anxiety, a habit, or a relationship problem. In each case, ask yourself, ” What are the advantages and disadvantages of this belief, feeling, or habit? How will it help me and how will it hurt me?” After you list all the advantages and disadvantages, balance them against each other on a 100-point scale so you can see whether the costs or the benefits or your mind-set are greater.

Self Esteem

50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part
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50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 8

50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 7

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self esteem beach picSelf Esteem: Anti-Procrastination Techniques

30. Daily Activity Schedule: When you’re depressed, everything seems overwhelming, and nothing seems worth doing, so you may give up on life. The Daily Activity Schedule can help you overcome do-nothingism. Record what you do each hour from the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed at night. Rate how satisfying each activity was on a scale from 0 (not at all satisfying) to 5 (the most satisfying). A review of the schedule will show you which activities boost your mood the most.

31.  Pleasure Predicting Sheet: Schedule a series of activities with the potential for pleasure, learning, or personal growth. Indicate whom you plan to do each activity with. Include activites you can do by yourself (such as jogging) as well as activities with other people. Predict how satisfying each activity will be on a scale from 0% (the least) to 100% (the most). After you complete each activity, record how satisfying it actually turned out to be on the same scale. Now compare your actual satisfaction ratings with your predictions. Many depressed people find that lots of activities turn out to be more rewarding than they predicted. This discovery can boost your motivation. You can also compare the satisfaction you get from being alone with the satisfaction you get from being with other people. This can help you test Self-Defeating Beliefs such as, “If I’m alone, I’m bound to feel miserable. ”

Self Esteem

50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 2
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 3
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 4
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 5
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50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 7
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 8

50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 6

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self esteem serenity picSelf Esteem: Humorous techniques

21. Paradoxical Magnification: Instead of refuting your Negative Thoughts, you can buy into them and exxaggerate them. Don’t try to argue with your NTs. Instead, make them as extreme as possible. For example, if you feel inferior, you could tell yourself, “Yes, it’s true. In fact, I’m probably the most inferior person in California at this time.” Paradoxically, this humorous method can sometimes provide objectivity and relief. Of course, if you’re really feeling upset, this may have the unintended effect of making you feel even worse. If so, go on to another method.

22. Shame-Attacking Exercises: If you suffer from shyness, you probably have intense fears of looking foolish in front of other people. Shame-Attacking Exercises are a specific and potent antidote to these kinds of fears. You intentionally do something foolish in public. For example, you could stand up and loudly announce each stop on a bus or shout out the time in a crowded department store. When you make a fool of yourself on purpose, you realize that the world doesn’t really come to an end, and that people don’t really look down on you. This discovery can be tremendously liberating.

29. What-If Technique: This technique is similar to the Downward Arrow Technique, but it’s geared specifically to anxiety. Draw a downward arrow under a Negative Thought and ask yourself, “What if that were true? What’s the worst that could happen? What do I fear the most?” A new Negative Thought or fantasy will come to mind. Write it down under the arrow and repeat the process several times. You will generate additional thoughts until you uncover the fantasy that frightens you the most. Then you can ask  yourself, “How likely is it that this would happen? And could I live with it if it did?”

Self Esteem

50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 2
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 3
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 4
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 5
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 6
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 7
50 Ways to Untwist Your Thinking Part 8