TRACOM’s Developing a Resilient Mindset program teaches us to combat our counterproductive ways of thinking. We often discuss the negativity bias, and the repercussions of this natural pattern of thinking, but what are some of the other biases that we face that the Resiliency Model helps us conquer?
DRAINING is actually an acronym featured in the course and each letter of the word represents a character and a pattern of thinking. A type of person we have all been at one time or another, or have interacted and worked with.
The D in DRAINING represents Disastrous Diane.
Disastrous Diane – Giving greater weight to the worst possible outcome, imagining it is worse than it is, and magnifying the likelihood that it will occur.
“If I lose my job, I will die”, “If I don’t make this sale, my boss will fire me” “I stumbled on my speech and now I know everyone is going to be making fun of me.”
We’ve all been a “Disastrous Diane” at times. It is a very common pattern of thinking called catastrophizing that we can naturally resort to when we feel threatened. Thousands of years ago, this pattern of thinking is what kept our species alive. We were hypersensitive to threats like natural disasters, signs of disease, and predators and that same portion of the brain is hypersensitive to perceived threats today. When our boss tells us they need to see us in their office we immediately think we are in trouble, or worse we are getting fired, but really he just wanted to discuss a project or praise us for our hard work. Unfortunately, what our brains perceive to be threats aren’t always actual threats, and becoming a Disastrous Diane only hinders our productivity and effectiveness at work. How silly of us for spending the last hour panicking about what the meeting with the boss could be about instead of finishing up that sales report.
Every member of your staff will at some point in their lives reach a time of uncertainty and doubt. With proper training in resiliency, your employees will be able to fight off counterproductive tendencies caused by stress. Equipping your workforce with the appropriate training to combat “draining” patterns of thinking is critical for effectiveness and efficiency in your organization.
To learn more about TRACOM’s Adaptive Mindset for Resiliency Training click here.
