Think of 10 good things for every bad thing

This is one of those cheesy instagram-ish things that actually has legs. I tried it as a weekly experiment a while back.

The rule is: every time I have a bad (anxious, mad, sad, whatever) thought about something, I have to counter it with ten good thoughts about that thing.

Example:

• Bad thought: “I stumbled over my words like an idiot in that meeting with the VP this morning.”
• Countered: “Yeah but she also laughed at my joke later in the meeting, and I had a solid answer to her other questions, and it’s just one meeting, and everyone does that sometimes, and that product launch speaks for itself anyway, and I had already written a doc about it which I can share around, and …”

Another example:

• Bad thought: “My freaking tire is leaking.”
• Countered: “Yeah but my other tires are fine, and I can afford a new tire if I need to, and this car is in great shape overall, and a decade ago I was lucky if I wasn’t using a spare at any given time, and I get a discount at the tire shop, and …”

It’s annoying to do in the moment but it helps.