Do you sometimes make things bigger than they really are? Managers and leaders must be careful not to exaggerate what is going on. More importantly, they must stifle their internal response to the things around them.
The great social activist Chicken Little once said, “The sky is falling” when he was merely hit in the head by a falling acorn.
Blowing things out of proportion can be a problem when you’re the one in charge. Yes, that would be a challenge if you do it regularly.
One of my clients introduced me to a new term: ‘catastrophizing’. This means that the situation is made much bigger than it actually is. The way we started this discussion was talking about limiting thoughts. I asked the client to give me some examples of limiting thoughts that bother him. While a few of the answers were common, this one surprised me.
Catastrophizing
As a manager you are confronted with problems almost every day. Things happen; often not as planned. You have to answer questions, hear news and make decisions.
What if everything you were given turned into something much more tragic? What if something someone didn’t do is declared a disaster, when in fact it’s just a setback or a simple, honest mistake?
Think of the energy, both emotional and physical, that you would expend dealing with such catastrophes.
If you act like Chicken Little, you will panic. You will run around in a frenzy, inciting others to join your panic party. Even if you leave others out of it, your own waste of energy and emotions can conflict and confuse the situation.
There has been a lot of tragedy in my life; at least half of it actually happened.
Mark Twain
Why do people do this?
I don’t practice psychology, so I can’t even venture a technical argument about why some people tend to behave this way. However, I can share my observations from years of experience on the job.
People who catastrophize often do so for a variety of reasons.
- A sense of fear – They are convinced that life has been mean to them. The proverbial cup is always half empty. Therefore, every new event that occurs must be bad. They are blind to any possibility of a favorable outcome.
- Lack of trust – People who lose faith in humanity continually view problems as human problems. Their mindset says that the other person is the reason these things are bad.
- No hope – Their world is a world of doom and gloom. They are convinced that the situation is hopeless. In their minds, blue skies are really just a funny shade of gray.
Unfortunately, I have encountered these types of colleagues and professionals for most of my career. Thank God they are not everywhere, nor are they often in charge. But if they are there, watch out.
The biggest problem I see with catastrophizing is the waste of energy and resources. Whether the energy is emotional or physical, the energy spent on avoiding the catastrophe is great.
The solution
One of the wisest words I ever heard was the phrase “The problem is not the problem.” Think about that. When faced with what seems like a problem, first check to see if what you are being told is a problem is actually the problem. Here’s an example.
Missed deadlines are usually a problem everywhere. Unless that deadline is a life or death situation, most missed deadlines are bad, but not the end of the world. Having a missed deadline, even if it seems big and real, doesn’t have to be the problem at all. The real problem may be more related to processes, procedures or people. Are the deadlines reasonable given the combination of the above elements? Or has someone failed in his task?
It’s better to get to the root cause of a problem than to simply catastrophize and run around like Chicken Little.
The sky is not falling. It’s just a jerk.
Comparable
Reference By: dougthorpe.com
