When a leader begins to adopt a pessimistic view, one of the false beliefs that takes hold is the fact that the problem is pervasive throughout the organization (or his/her life).

Of course this perspective of pervasiveness would add to the leader’s discouragement.  Rather than seeing the problem as an isolated situation that needs to be managed, the leader finds himself/herself wearing glasses that see the isolated incident as far more pervasive than it is.  “This job is horrible!”  “My life’s a wreck.” “This employee is hopeless.”  are some of the phrases that indicate an isolated crisis has been extrapolated into a blanket statement.

A strong leader seeks to prevent this type of thinking from invading his/her thinking – knowing that it prevents him/her from dealing with a clear head about the situation s/he is being called upon to manage.

As in the poster, they don’t make a judgement about the whole house due to the way the awning over the porch might look.  See more about the subject of catastrophizing in the poster The Nature Of Anxiety.

Categories: Vitality

Tags: vitality