10 Unhelpful Ways of Thinking

You probably don't spend much time considering how you think about different situations at work and in your personal life. However, the way you think can create anxiety and stress for you and impact how you feel and handle situations and events. 

We, therefore, thought it would be good to reflect on some unhelpful ways of thinking and ways of changing your thinking.

1. All or Nothing Thinking

All or Nothing Thinking is extreme or black and white thinking that can lead to extreme emotions and behaviors and no margin for error in your thinking. To change this way of thinking try focusing on somewhere between the two extremes, avoid either/or type statements, and consider other ways of interpreting the situation.

2. Catastrophising

Catastrophising is taking a relatively minor negative event and imagining all sorts of disasters resulting from it. To change this way of thinking put things into perspective, see your thoughts as just thoughts not reality, consider other explanations and look at the evidence and chances of a disaster happening.

3. Disqualifying the Positive

This is when you change a positive event into a neutral or negative event in your mind, creating a pattern of negative thinking. To change this way of thinking be aware of your response to positive information, accept positive events as they are, and accept positive feedback from others.

4. Emotional Reasoning

Emotional Reasoning is when you rely too heavily on your feelings as fact, resulting in you misunderstanding the situation. To change this way of thinking notice your thoughts, consider how you would view things if you were calmer, look for contradictory information and let your feelings subside before taking action.

5. Fortune Telling

Fortune Telling is when you try to predict future events, usually in a negative way, which can stop you from taking action and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. To change this way of thinking accept that you cannot predict the future, test out your predictions, and be prepared to take measurable risks.

6. Making Demands

Making Demands is when you place demands on yourself and others such as 'I must' or 'they should', resulting in a very rigid and inflexible view of what is happening. To change this way of thinking pay attention to the words you use, wider your thinking, and allow for things to be different from your expectations.

7. Mental Filtering

Mental Filtering is when you acknowledge only information that fits with a belief you hold, resulting in a very distorted view. To change this way of thinking collect evidence that contradicts your thoughts, pay attention to all the information available and take notice of and look to change the filters you are using.

8. Mind Reading

Mind Reading is when you think you know what other people are thinking, resulting in incorrect assumptions being made. To change this way of thinking generate alternative reasons for what is happening, accept that you cannot know what someone is thinking, and communicate with other people to understand their points of view.

9. Overgeneralising

Overgeneralising is when you draw global conclusions such as 'always' or 'never' from an event, resulting in you assuming that because something has happened once it will always happen. To change this way of thinking consider the wider perspective, suspend judgment and steer clear of global conclusions.

10. Personalizing

Personalizing is when you interpret events as being related to you personally, resulting in you feeling you are responsible for everything that happens to others and yourself. To change this way of thinking look for explanations that are nothing to do with you, consider why other people may be responding in a particular way and don't jump to conclusions.

The next time you are feeling stressed or anxious or things are not going well, consider if the cause is unhelpful ways of thinking and look at ways in which you can change your thinking.

For a wide range of tips and strategies for reducing and managing stress and anxiety you can take one of our anxiety management or stress management online courses on MMC:

Anxiety management for life: how to reduce & manage anxiety

Stress management for life: how to reduce & manage stress

Stress management for business owners, directors & managers