Pessimism - the rubber band technique

Let's imagine: you are always putting yourself down.

You want to change - that alone is a step in the tight direction!

Problem: despite your best efforts you keep falling back into the habit of putting yourself down.

To overcome: when you realise you're doing this, choose some other behaviour - immediately!

How?

1. Place a rubber band around your wrist, and every time you catch yourself putting yourself down, snap the rubber band and deliberately choose to replace the negative self-talk with a positive statement.

2. The rubber band is a pattern breaker that gets your attention and reminds you that you are choosing a new behaviour.

3. It acts to snap you back into the present moment, so you can consciously choose a new behaviour until that new behaviour becomes your automatic response.

4. Every time you find yourself engaging in the behaviour you want to change, snap the rubber band, remind yourself that you have chosen a new behaviour and immediately replace the old behaviour with the new behaviour.