Morra interviewed by Forbes India
Q. How can leaders stay clear of ‘thought traps’?
A thought trap is a negative piece of either self-talk, self-criticism feedback or an instant reflexive thought that happens when you are triggered—when you are made anxious or concerned about something. A classic one is catastrophising, jumping to conclusions, feeling like an imposter, feeling like you are not worth it, and “should” statements.
If all you can think is, “I’m a fraud and any day now people will find out I actually don’t know what I’m doing”, your self-confidence is going to plummet, and your anxiety will escalate. And from there, the thought trap will influence your behaviour. You can offer an alternative to your thought trap, called a balanced thought.
For example, if your thought trap is ‘all or nothing’ thinking… “Because I messed up the numbers on that slide, my team will lose respect for me”, a more balanced thought could be: “Yes, I got the projections wrong. That was embarrassing. But it’s the first time in three years I’ve ever done something like this. It’s not a big deal in the long run and it was only an internal team presentation. Overall, my staff really trusts me, and I know this because I saw my recent 360 review.”
How to free yourself from the traps? It takes practice, more balanced thoughts, moving around (yes, really), allowing others to help you and other simple, research-based actions.