Polarized thinking, one of the styles of thinking mentioned in one of my earlier posts (called “15 Styles of Distorted Thinking”) is very prevelent when trying to reach a goal. Whether you’re on a diet, a workout plan, or trying to read a book by a certain date, you can’t let polarized thinking take over!! Polarized thinkging basically means anything that happens, our minds turn into good or bad - no middle-ground. Everything is perfect or the end of the world. When trying to reach a goal, this can be detrimental because when something is going horribly wrong, we are extremely likely to give up and drop the goal. For example, if someone goes on a vegetarian diet and one day gives in and eats a piece of chicken, they might be likely to fall for the polarized thinking trap and make the situation seem much worse in their head - maybe that they’ve ruined the diet so there’s no point in sticking with it.
My advice: If you slip up on one day in a long-term goal, try to regain all momentum and desire to achieve the goal again. In order to do this, you need to convince yourself that it’s OKAY to not do everything perfect all the time. I know this may be hard for you type-A people out there but nobody is perfect and if you mess up once, you’re still on the right track! People are human and are bound to mess up - it’s not the end of the world. Do the right thing for yourself and give yourself another chance. Remember: you are in control of your mind.
Smile!
