Support the Positive
The third step is to create structures and systems to support the positive behaviours and discourage the negative. Here are some examples:
Begin noticing when you’re undermining yourself. When you find yourself complaining, falling into a work-habit trap or heeding a gremlin, stop!
Remove yourself from environments that encourage the behaviours you’re trying to change. For example, if you always talk negatively about work with the same people at lunch break the pattern, have lunch alone or with some else.
To avoid falling into work-habit traps, design ways that support your good behaviours and discourage or minimize your bad ones. If you undermine yourself by being late, schedule buffer time in your calendar. If you procrastinate, set an early, artificial deadline for projects. Immediately determine what you need to do and get to work.
This strategy can also help combat some forms of negative thinking. If you think your failures outweigh your successes, objectively reflect on your wins. Collect positive performance reviews as well as emails and letters containing positive comments about you and your work. Build the collection and refer to it whenever you need a boost.
To quiet your gremlins, you may need help from a therapist, mentor or career counsellor. If, for example, you avoid challenging assignments because a gremlin tells you, you aren’t up to snuff, a therapist can help you understand why you think this way and work out strategies with you to overcome that limiting self-perception. A mentor or coach can help you focus on your goals, highlight your strengths and encourage your forward progress.
When it comes to undermining yourself, you are both the cause and the solution. By successfully managing such behaviours, you allow yourself and others to experience your best qualities.
If you can think it , you can do it …