Most of us occasionally — or more than occasionally — fall prey to automatic negative thought cycles: periods (more than a few seconds) of generating unproductive negative thoughts that tend to loop and build on each other, leading to an agitated and unproductive mental state.
These automatic negative thought cycles create havoc with both your productivity and your happiness. So here are the…
7 Methods for Stopping Automatic Negative Thought Cycles
1. Say “Stop!” loudly and firmly. You can also coordinate this with a physical act, such as smacking your palm against a table or the wall.
2. Distract yourself with a work task that requires your full concentration.
3. Distract yourself with another activity. Exercise or a walk are always good, or perhaps listening to music or watching a funny show on television. Do positive activities rather than eating junk food or drinking alcohol.
4. Quickly change your surroundings. Walk outside and focus on something interesting, such as birds or animals, flowers or trees, or the movement of clouds across the sky.
5. Argue with yourself. Take both sides of an internal debate and examine the negative thought. Is it even true? Are you exaggerating it? If it is true, so what?
6. Ask yourself, “What will continuing to stay in this negative thought cycle cost me in terms of productivity and happiness?” Think of both the short-term and long-term consequences.
7. Just think of something else—something positive, interesting, or uplifting.
Of course, there are times when you need to deal with a negative situation in your life, so you’ll have to think about it and figure out how to respond to it. Automatic negative thought cycles occur when you needlessly focus on negative thoughts for long periods with no positive outcome.
Your Take
Do you ever experience automatic negative thought cycles? How do you deal with them?
Great tips, John. Like pretty much everyone, I have those moments now and then, too, and just try to talk my way out of the negativity. Putting things into context helps, too: “Sure, ____ is bad, but at least it’s not as horrible/sad/tragic as ____ or ____.”
Paula, putting things into context is a also a good way to break negative-thought cycles. Thanks for sharing that tip!
John, since I’m a lifetime collector of negative thoughts, I often avail myself of the “get out of your mind by walking or exercising” option. I’m also trying to be more conscious of the standard sour patter that goes on in my mind by trying to counter it as you suggest with #5. Asking “is this even true?” is a good one, because we can blithely just tell ourselves that our work is meaningless, or stupid or some such rot without questioning it, and seeing that we’re just in a habit of looking on the dark side. Thanks!
Tom, I also take walks whenever I’m in a negative rut. Even five minutes can make a big difference.
Any change in my physical state will tend to change negative self-talk, at least short term. Since I’m often sitting writing that means standing up… pacing a bit.
At one point I get into what seemed to be unending self-talk. Someone suggested putting a rubber band on my wrist and flicking myself every time I caught the negativity – that worked in a hurry.
I like the rubber band idea!
I also find that just looking out my window and up at the sky can do the trick.
My daily walks work for all the reasons you shared, John. The change of scenery, being outside – all contribute to focusing away from negative thoughts. My personal mantra helps as well. I ask myself, is this worth the energy? There is so much energy in negativity.
“Is it worth the energy?” Fantastic!
To hit the fitness angle some more: if you use a timer or stepper to track your progress, you’re constantly reminding yourself that you’re capable of getting things done.
I always use the stopwatch on my watch even if I’m not trying to “beat” a certain time. I might just want to make sure I get 90 minutes of walk time in. But measuring it in some way validates the experience and makes it feel like more of an accomplishment.
Of course you have to avoid the urge to nurse negative thoughts while you’re exercising.
Negative thoughts sometimes impinge when I’m out hiking, although it’s rare and I usually cut them short.
When I’m doing strength training at the health club, I listen to podcasts. Between the podcast information and analysis and making sure I do my training with correct form, I don’t have time to think of anything else.
Abhinav, I also find that doing some chores around the house can improve my mood, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Negative thoughts are also a symptom of depression. You can’t of course just think yourself happy if you are depressed. I just notice this. I wrote about “negative thought patterns” recently on my blog. This is a great site for information, love it!
Nicoli, you are absolutely correct. If a person has long-term and persistent negative thoughts, they should seek the advice of a competent professional.
An alternative to firmly saying “Stop” is using the phrase “And now I’m back.” You’re back in the room (in reality, not some negative-biased, assumption filled world) and the real you, the one who wants and deserves to achieve, is back in charge.
“And now I’m back.” Excellent advice, David!
Completely agreed. I also believe that reading about positive news around you on a daily basis does help in termination of the negative thought process. Thank You for sharing your thoughts John!