Use Cognitive Restructuring to Become More Productive

You may have never heard of “cognitive restructuring” but it’s a real way to adjust your thoughts to be more positive and productive. While this is usually something you go through in therapy, you can still remember it in your actual daily life and reap the benefits.

What is cognitive restructuring?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines cognitive restructuring as “the skill of carefully examining your thoughts when you are upset or upset about something.” The goal is to change the way you think in times of stress so that your thoughts become more balanced. The less ideal, stressful thoughts you may experience are cognitive distortions and do not contribute to your overall well-being or productivity.

Negative feelings associated with certain activities or events can slow down your progress in them, which can lead to even more negative feelings as your tasks pile up. Whether you’re too sad to clean up, too rushed to run to the store, or too stressed out to do your job, addressing negative feelings directly and restructuring them can help you get over the hump and make things right. that still feels safe – and even good.

Five Steps to Practicing Cognitive Restructuring

Here’s what you do, according to the APA:

1. Write down your upsetting situation, whether it’s a real event (like cleaning your house, doing schoolwork, or talking to someone) or a flashback to an event. You just need a one sentence description.
2. Identify the worst feeling you’ve ever had. Even if you have had many feelings, choose the strongest. This can help you separate them into fear and anxiety; sadness and depression; guilt and shame; or anger. Keep in mind the strongest feeling for the rest of the steps.
3. Identify your thoughts about the event or situation as they relate to your strongest feeling. If your strongest feeling is fear, ask yourself what you are afraid of . If it’s guilt, ask yourself what “wrong” thing you actually did. This is where you flesh out when you’re trying to get to the root cause of your negative feeling. So, if you’re worried about taking a test and keep putting it off, figure out what you’re afraid of (like not understanding the material or getting a bad grade). Write a thoughtful, long form: “I’m worried about my studies because I’m afraid I still won’t understand or absorb enough information to do well on the test.”
4. So evaluate the accuracy of your upsetting thought. Start with any evidence that might support this idea, and then explore it. Why do you think you will not understand or assimilate the material that you are about to learn? Write down any evidence, but then ask yourself why your thought might be wrong. Explore the evidence against this thought, including other ways of looking at the situation, what someone else might think about it, and whether your feelings are factual.
5. After you have listed all the evidence for and against your negative thoughts, make your final decision, placing the most weight on the most reliable and objective information. Cross out everything weak, subjective or based on feelings; Circle everything that is supported by solid evidence.

By doing this when you’re feeling paralyzed by anxiety or sadness, you can see the way forward, and if you do it enough, brush aside the negativity and instead focus on the facts, like that you’ve done well on tests before or kept your mind clean. house. the past, or the fact that bad test scores or a messy home doesn’t make you a bad person in every way – it will come more naturally. The best thing is that you can prove the facts correctly by completing tasks and reinforcing them for next time.