Are You Viewing Your Current Situation As a Threat Or a Challenge?
I can’t believe we are 8 weeks into the shelter-in place order already. Over the course of these 8 weeks, most of us have gone through all sorts of emotions. From grief to sadness to anger to anxiety…
It’s important to allow ourselves to feel these feelings. But in terms of how we actually react to our situation, our mindset plays a big role.
In the beginning we were in a Threat Mindset. We felt like what was happening was outside of our control and we focused on the potential for risk, danger, harm or loss.
The other choice we have is a Challenge Mindset. It’s where we acknowledge that yes, there may be potential for risk or loss, but we are reasonably optimistic that we can rise to the occasion and use our skills or develop strategies to achieve a good outcome.
Sometimes we can easily access a Challenge mindset, but sometimes obstacles seem so large that it is easy to fall back into the Threat mindset (especially when watching the news nowadays!)
𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭?
Simply ask yourself these 2 questions about your situation:
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞/𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞?
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?
Let’s say that you applied for a job and got rejected.
The worst possible reaction would be to give up and never apply anywhere again.
What’s the opposite of that? The opposite would be to keep going and apply someplace every day.
This simple exercise does a couple of things:
It makes you realize that you actually have options and you have the ability to choose
If you are not doing the worst possible thing, you are doing better than you could be. You are challenging yourself to do something that is better.
What’s the opposite of your worst reaction?
Manuela helps heart-centered professionals create a career and life they love. Contact her for a free 45 minute Career and Life Strategy session. Get more information on Manuela’s Website.
Originally published at https://www.pauercoaching.com on May 11, 2020.
