Developing Skills with Brain Injury Nine (9) Thinking Errors submitted by Gayle Green & edited. 1. Do you demand certainty---You put off important decisions or actions you want to take because you believe is it is imprudent (unwise) to act because you are not certain of the outcome.--the dilemma is that “certainty” is a myth. 2. Do you define something as being “too hard” or impossible---when in fact it is merely difficult.---you are more likely to procrastinate or put things off then put yourself down afterward. 3. Do you tell yourself that life is awful, terrible and catastrophic when things don’t go the way you want them too---approx 99% of your life could be exactly the way you want it to be, but you let the 1% over ride the good making all the good seem like nothing or that it is unimportant. 4. Do you label yourself in a negative way merely because you made a mistake or failed at a task rather than recognize that a specific behavior is negative--if you put yourself down or merely define yourself as incompetent you are spending a great deal of time struggling with self-worth and self-acceptance. 5. Do you tend to rate others in totally negative terms simply because they did not come through for you the way you wanted them too or expected them too---if you do this you are spending a great deal of time consumed with anger because people will never live up to your acceptance or expectations. 6. Do you hold yourself to impossible standards---you could be spending a lot of time being anxious or down on yourself. 7. Do you require other people give you love & approval as a prerequisite for accepting you---then you could be spending excessive amounts of time trying to please others to the point that you are excluding what could be working for you. 8. Do you think in terms of all or nothing, black and white and do or die when is something, anything is short of perfect, do you see it as a total failure---you may be spending a lot of time being stressed and others think of you as being “difficult” and “impossible to please.” 9. Do you believe that success in life is now impossible because you had a certain type of childhood, life experience, or physical make-up, happiness or other types of achievements are not to be in your life---you are turning your life into a self-fulfilling prophesy. (end)