 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Featured Resources at Mind Tools | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ... And from the Mind Tools Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Editors' Choice Article The ABC Technique Overcoming Pessimistic Thinking | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clearly, Robyn is blowing the situation way out of proportion. With her pessimistic outlook, she has assumed the worst, and has turned a small setback into a disaster. How about you? Are you an optimist? Or would you have reacted in the same way as Robyn? Optimists have been proven to be happier, healthier, more productive and more successful than pessimists. The good news is that optimism is a skill - you can learn how to be more optimistic. In this article, we'll show you how to use the ABC Technique to develop a more optimistic outlook. About ABC This approach was originally created by psychologist, Dr. Albert Ellis. It was then adapted by Dr. Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania professor and past president of the American Psychological Association. Seligman's adapted version was published in his 1990 book, "Learned Optimism." ABC stands for:
Here's an example - you yell at your assistant because she forgot to print a key report before your meeting (Adversity). You then think, "I'm a really lousy boss" (Belief). You then perform poorly during your meeting, because your self confidence has plummeted (Consequences). The key point occurs between adversity and belief. When you encounter adversity, how you tend to explain it to yourself directly impacts your mindset and your relationships. Seligman calls this your "explanatory style," and he says that it is a habit that influences your entire outlook on life. There are three dimensions to your explanatory style:
So, how can you reset your own ABC pattern? Step 1: Track Your Inner Dialog Begin by keeping a diary for several days. Your goal is to listen to your inner dialog, especially when you encounter a stressful or difficult situation. For each situation, write down the adversity you experienced, the beliefs you formed after encountering the adversity, and the consequences of those beliefs. Consequences can be anything, from happy or unhappy thoughts and feelings, to specific actions that you took. (Use our worksheet to get started.) Example Adversity: A colleague criticized my product idea in front of the team during our weekly meeting. Belief: She's right; it was a dumb idea. I don't have much of an imagination, and now the entire team can see how uncreative I am. I should never have spoken up! Consequences: I felt stupid and didn't speak up for the rest of the meeting. I don't want to attend any of the other team meetings this week, and have already made an excuse to avoid tomorrow's meeting. Step 2: Analyze Results Once you've written down several ABC situations, take a look at what you have found. Here, you need to look for patterns in your thinking, specifically, how any broad beliefs have led to specific consequences. To be optimistic, you need to change your beliefs following adversity. This, in turn, leads to more positive consequences. Step 3: Use Distraction and Disputation As you can see, the beliefs you develop after encountering adversity play a major role in your life, and determine whether you're an optimistic or pessimistic thinker. This makes it important to manage negative ABC patterns. There are two ways to override these: distraction and disputation. Distraction If you want to interrupt your negative thoughts, you need to distract yourself. Simply telling yourself "not to think negatively" isn't going to work: you need to interrupt the cycle. To do this, try distracting yourself when you start creating negative beliefs. For example, you could wear a rubber band around your wrist. After you've gone through a stressful situation, and when you begin to formulate negative thoughts and beliefs as a result, snap the rubber band against your skin. This physical sting will remind you to step out of the cycle of negative thinking. Once you've interrupted your negative thoughts, you need to shift your attention somewhere else. Concentrate intently on something else for a minute. Disputation Although distraction is useful for interrupting negative thinking, a more permanent solution is to dispute them. Think of Disputation as a "D" after ABC. To dispute your negative thoughts and beliefs, you argue with yourself rationally. In particular, you look for the mistaken assumptions about your explanatory style that we talked about earlier. We'll use the previous example to illustrate this technique, below. Adversity: A colleague criticized my product idea in front of the team during our weekly meeting. Belief: She's right; it was a dumb idea. I don't have much of an imagination, and now the entire team can see how uncreative I am. I should never have spoken up! Consequences: I felt stupid and didn't speak up for the rest of the meeting. I don't want to attend any of the other team meetings this week, and have already made an excuse to avoid tomorrow's meeting. Disputation: I'm blowing this out of proportion. My colleague had every right to criticize my idea; it was nothing personal, and her critique was spot on. She even commended my creative thinking once the meeting was over. All I need to do is think my ideas through a bit better next time.
Key Points The ABC Technique is an approach developed by Albert Ellis and adapted by Martin Seligman to help us think more optimistically. The technique is based on our explanatory style. That is, how we explain difficult or stressful situations to ourselves, across dimensions of permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization. These thoughts directly impact what we believe about the event, ourselves, and the world at large. The Technique pushes you to analyze three aspects of a situation:
To be optimistic, you must change what you believe about yourself, and the situation, when you encounter adversity. Positive beliefs will, in turn, lead to more positive consequences, and a more positive outlook. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
A Final Note
If you tend towards pessimism, think about how much happier and more effective you could be if you were more optimistic. Try using the ABC Technique for a few days or weeks - you'll enjoy the results! Next time, we're showing you how to rebuild morale within your team and your organization. This is essential reading in these unpredictable times! See you then!  James Manktelow Email us Mind Tools Essential Skills for an Excellent Career! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
