Chip Chick
Seeing physical evidence that your negative thoughts can be wrong helps many people talk to themselves less critically from time to time, and that’s a start.
Step #4: Shift from pessimistic to realistic a little at a time.
By this point, you realize that not all of your criticism is deserved. So, now we make the transition to more realistic thought patterns.
This does not have to be an overnight shift; it is okay if you backslide a little occasionally. The goal is to make minor improvements. Just shutting down one hypercritical thought is better than none at all.
And if you manage to shut down one hypercritical thought daily, that’s 365 fewer hypercritical thoughts every year.
Every little win counts.
Shifting your thoughts can look like moving from “I’ll never make a relationship work” to “If I learn to communicate my needs better, I might have more success.”
You don’t have to be overly optimistic – have a more realistic outlook than your usual hypercriticism.
Step #5: Imagine your hypercriticism was ACTUALLY true.
Let’s say you are up for a big promotion at work. You’ve interviewed with the manager, and now it is just a waiting game. This is the perfect breeding ground for hypercriticism to take up shop.
You might be thinking, “OMG, I bombed that interview! All I did was stutter at every question. My manager probably thinks I’m a moron now. There is no way I’m going to get that promotion.”
