Read the following two articles before completing this journal entry: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-older-dad/201208/building-happy-life-five-ways-change-your-self-defeating-habits (Links to an external site.) & https://www.mindful.org/curb-self-defeating-habits/ (Links to an external site.)
You’re about to embark on an exciting journey into your inner world! There you can discover—and later revise—the invisible forces that have gotten you off course from your goals and dreams.
Write about one of your self-defeating behavior patterns in the box below. Remember, a behavior is something someone else can see you do. Develop your journal paragraphs by anticipating questions that someone reading it might have about this behavior pattern. (Even you might have questions when you read your journal 10 years from now.) For example, please you my habit is that im very INDECISIVE
- What exactly is your self-defeating behavior pattern?
- What are some specific examples of when you did this behavior?
- What may have caused this habit?
- What undesirable effects has it had on your life?
- How would your life be improved if you changed it?
One student began by writing, “One of my self-defeating behavior patterns is that I seldom do my best work on college assignments. For example, in my biology lab. . . .”
ALTERNATIVES:
In the box below, write about one of your self-defeating thought patterns or one of your self-defeating emotional patterns.
You might begin, “One of my self-defeating thought patterns is that I often wonder if I am smart enough to be successful in college. I especially think this during exams. For example, last Thursday I. . . .”