Twisted Thoughts: Types of Distortions That Can Get In the Way of Strategic Planning

A human brain is an amazing machine.

It has evolved to take care of us in ways we don’t even know or recognize. To protect us, sometimes our brains make things up, which can be good and troublesome. One of the ways our brains can be troublesome is the creation of habitual and biased negative thoughts that influence how we interpret the world; these thoughts are referred to as cognitive distortions or twisted thoughts. Everyone experiences--and responds to--cognitive distortions. There are many types of distortions but I’m going to go over a few that are likely to get in the way of strategic planning or change management.

Polarized Thinking. In this thinking pattern, there is only right or wrong, good or bad; there is no middle ground. If it’s not perfect, it’s a failure.

Jumping to Conclusions. This thinking pattern can present in two different ways, mind-reading and fortune-telling. We make assumptions about what someone is thinking or what someone is going to say or do without any evidence.

Should Statements. This thinking pattern includes words like “should”, “shouldn’t”, “must.” Statements that include these words become rules that create pressure and set expectations that might not be achievable.

The Fallacy of Control. In this thinking pattern, you will assume an inaccurate amount of control in a situation. You may think you don’t have any control over what happens to and around you OR you think you are responsible for the pain or happiness of people around you.

The Fallacy of Change. With this thinking, you’ll assume other people should change to suit you automatically; You might think it’s okay to pressure others to change.

Do any of these twisted thoughts seem familiar?

(I’m personally working on not pressuring people to change. 😑) Without challenging these thoughts, you can become anxious or depressed. You might procrastinate more (🙋🏽‍♀️) or get stuck, unable to move toward action. Imagine working on a team where this type of thinking is the norm. I’ve been there and it made it hard to make any changes, even when the changes would have been beneficial. We often got challenged by partners because we weren’t able to uphold our end of the partnership. Who wants any of that?!

The first step to resolving any issue is to acknowledge or name it.

One way I challenge cognitive distortions is by looking for evidence. What proof is there that makes this negative thought true? This is one of the easiest ways to recognize a twisted thought because 99.9% of the time there won’t be any evidence. Remember, our brain made it up!

 If this is an issue for you or your team, we’d love to help you through coaching or a facilitated retreat. After all, we do love making change happen!