Have you ever had a not-so-pleasant experience that causes your mind to automatically jump into autopilot and put its own little spin on the situation?

When you let cognitive distortions overtake your thinking patterns, you create more stress for yourself, lower your self-esteem, and erode your self-confidence.

Let’s look at five common cognitive distortions and how you can take immediate action to counteract those thought processes.

Black-or-White Thinking

This is when life—and all the situations in it—becomes an all-or-nothing game. Missing out on one promotion turns  into, “I’ll probably never be promoted in my career ever again, no matter how long I live.”

In this distortion, you see one failure and project the same fate upon all your future endeavors, as well.

Change It

This is an extreme way of thinking—and it’s not realistic. When you hear yourself going in this direction, push back. Challenge yourself to think about situations in which you’ve been successful, received promotions, or been recognized for work well done.

Catastrophic Thinking

Has anyone ever accused you of making a mountain out of a molehill?

 You get some information—for example, that a report you need for a presentation is going to be late—and you immediately spin it into a catastrophic outcome: “Without the report, the presentation will suck! We’ll all be fired because we won’t hit the mark! I’ll never be able to work in this industry again!”

source: themuse