Follow the facts, the following series of steps will allow you to identify possible errors in your
thinking.
Step one, look for evidence that supports your thought.
Are there real reasons to believe your negative thoughts in your situation?
He had a few critical evaluations that supported his thought about being a bad instructor.
Take care at this step to be as objective as possible, neither skipping over any available evidence
nor filtering the evidence through a negative lens step to look for evidence that does not support your
thought.
Is there anything your thought ignores as George ignored the dominance of the evaluations?
Or maybe you acknowledged this other side of the evidence, but downplayed it just as George knew.
He also had positive comments but thought it was just a few and that they were just being nice.
Counting the number of active and negative evaluations gave him an objective measure.
You might also think about what you would tell a friend in your situation.
What would you point out?
That they might have ignored step three?
Look for possible errors in your thinking.
Next, compare your original thought with the evidence you've gathered.
Do you find any thinking errors?
Notice also if you've got the facts right, but misinterpreted their meaning.
For example, George was right that he needed to improve his teaching, but had catastrophizing when
he assumed it meant he wasn't cut out to be a professor.
So ask yourself whether your thought means what you assumed, even if it's true.
Is it as bad as it seems?
Write down any errors you discover.
Step four.
Identify a more accurate and helpful way of seeing the situation.
How can you modify your initial thought to make it more consistent with reality?
Take care to come up with a thought that is supported by facts rather than as generic self affirmation
or a simple rebuttal of the automatic thought.
For example, George might try to counteract his negative automatic thoughts about his teaching by saying,
I'm actually an amazing teacher.
But that thought carries little weight because it's simply an opinion and not not one George really
believes.
I remember there is no need to try to take yourself into better thinking, simply follow the facts and
write down the alternative way of thinking.
Step five, notice and record any effects of the new thought on your feelings and behaviors.
As we practice new ways of thinking, we will start to experience changes in our feelings and behaviors.
Take note of any effects you are aware of.
As always, be honest with yourself.
Even if that means seemed you didn't notice any improvement in your feelings and behaviors, it will
be invaluable to know what works for you and what doesn't.
The following example illustrates how Cailloux a working mother of four used this approach when she
forgot to call her mom on her sixty fifth birthday event, forgot to call her mom on her birthday,
thought I'm so inconsiderate.
Emotions, guilty, sad behaviors kept putting off calling mom to apologize.