Practice Notes

Welcome to the October Practice Notes

 

What’s new in the world?

The Energy Project’s newsletter

We’ve long been advocates of the importance of energy management, as part of self-management and overall effectiveness at work.

We subscribe to their email newsletter.  To subscribe, email: email@theenergyproject.com

A recent issue included this approach to categorising our energy management zones: survival, performance, recovery and burnout.  Which zone do you spend most time in?  Check it out here:

 

Build resilience using your ABCDEs

This positive psychology approach develops your resilience.  Like everything, it takes practice to use and to make a difference to your thinking.

The ABCDE method disputes your pessimistic thoughts.  Our thoughts can generate our feelings.  So, if you take active control of your thoughts, you are in turn taking active control of your emotions.

Have a pen and paper handy for this exercise.

 

1.   Adversity

Describe a recent Adversity. Include the Who, What, When, and Where of the situation. Be specific and accurate in your description. Don’t let your beliefs about the adversity creep in! Be objective.

Example: I got rejected today from being a member of a project team. That’s pretty objective.

 

2.   Beliefs:

Record what you were saying to yourself in the midst of the Adversity. What was running through your mind? Write it down verbatim. Don’t worry about being polite!

Example: “This always happens.” “I’m just not good enough.” “It’s all about who you know, and I don’t know anybody.” ”Maybe I’m not cut out for this sort of thing.”

 

3. Consequences:

Record the Consequences of your Beliefs (what did you feel and what did you do?). Be specific. List all of the emotions you experienced and as many reactions as you can identify. Ask yourself: Do your Consequences make sense given your Beliefs? If you don’t have the Aha! experience, see if you can identify other Beliefs that you may have not been as aware of initially.

Example: I felt worse and worse thinking this way. I began to not take any action on other projects that I wanted or needed to do.  I felt pretty low, and I began comparing myself negatively to others who I thought were better off than me.

Yes, these feelings and actions DO make sense given those beliefs!

 

4.   Dispute:

Generate one piece of Evidence to point out the inaccuracy in your Beliefs, or generate a more accurate/optimistic Alternative belief about the Adversity, or Put Into Perspective your Belief. You can use the tag lines below to craft your responses:
a. Evidence: That’s not completely true because…

Example: That’s not completely true because I know a lot of great people, and some of them are in great positions. I have achieved great things like this in the past and been involved in some great projects.

b. Alternative: A more accurate way of seeing this is….

Example: It really is only for one project, it’s not like I got rejected by my family..

c. Putting It In Perspective: The most likely outcome is… and I can… to handle it.

Example: The most likely outcome of this is that I put my energy into another big project I’m currently working on, and I can work harder and be more focused on this project and that will help me handle the rejection from this project team.

 

5.   Energy:

Write a few sentences about how your Disputation changed your Energy. What happened to your mood? How did your behavior change? What solutions did you see that you didn’t see before?

Example: My energy became more focused and clear. I felt much more competent in my abilities and in my future. My behavior changed by getting me back to working hard on the things that matter to me, because I want a positive future for myself. The solutions I saw were about what I could DO for myself, rather than let the world happen to me.