The Relationship Between Behavior, Emotions, and Thoughts
Your ideas might start self-reinforcing patterns. Your thoughts have a direct impact on how you feel and act. Therefore, if you believe that you are a failure, that is how you will feel.
Your convictions are strengthened
When you come to a judgment about yourself, you are prone to hunt for facts to support that conclusion and to ignore anything that contradicts it.
For instance, a person who starts to feel inadequate would see every error as evidence of his shortcomings. When he does succeed, he will put it down to chance.
Questions for Your Conclusions
Consider the labels you’ve given yourself. You may have proclaimed yourself unable. Or maybe you’ve realized that you’re a lousy leader.
You don’t have to let such beliefs limit your potential, so remind yourself of that. Nothing is true just because you think it is.
Look for data that contradicts your ideas, then do behavioral tests to see how accurate they are. Do something to make you feel deserving if you believe you’re not good enough. Force yourself to do something uncomfortable if you’ve deemed yourself to be too weak.
