Description
Positive reinforcement is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Exercise. Specifically it is a form of Cognitive restructuring.
It is a mental exercise that you can do to yourself to boost your confidence and possibly performance.
Basically you take a positive belief about yourself or a goal that you want to accomplish and you give yourself reasons why you will accomplish it.
How to Do It
Take a goal or a positive quality about yourself that you have doubts about and find reasons to support it thus unraveling your doubts.
This can be done in writing or in your thoughts.
Here are a couple of examples.
Example 1:
Let’s say you have a goal of building a successful business but there is some doubts inside you that make you question your chances of success. Unravel those doubts by listing reasons on why you can build a successful business.
Example 1:
- People from your similar upbringing built successful businesses
- You have a good support system
- Each failure is a step closer to success
- You have a high IQ
- And so on
Example 2:
- Let’s say that you are worried that you are not good looking enough to find a spouse.
- List the attractive features you have
- Think of past relationships you have
- List the things you are doing to improve your look
- And so on
Benefits
Reinforcing positive beliefs about yourself and challenging negative beliefs about yourself should increase your mood and self confidence.
Time Commitment
5-15 minutes a day
Suggested Frequency
Daily
Required Equipment
Journal
Gurus/Celebrities/Doing it
Jennifer Lopez
Demi Lovato
Selena Gomez
Category Health/Productivity/Focus:
Mood
Suggested Time of Day
Morning
Notes
You need to do these exercises proactively and repeatedly they will not work right away. Essentially you are changing the way you think.
Supporting Studies and Articles
Expand Collapse- https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584580/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxiety-files/201111/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-proven-effectiveness
- https://cogbtherapy.com/how-effective-is-cbt-compared-to-other-treatments
