Living in a Nightmare

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who judge themselves on single incidents. They don’t ignore mistakes; they discount what they’re like from day-to-day.

Gregory is a very serious and hard-working you man. In fact, he moved up from entry-level assistant to manager in less than a year. Everything he does, in his mind, is used as an example by his employees.

One morning he wakes up dizzy and nauseous, unable to walk, let alone work. Sickness happens, but somehow he always thought he’d work through it. Missing work comes as a major blow to his self-confidence. He convinces himself he’s set a bad example for his whole department. The next day he turns in his resignation before, in his mind, management has a chance to fire him.

Gregory’s complete lack of focus on the bigger picture keeps him from recognizing his abilities. It leaves him hopeless because he has no apparent skills with which to change. In his mind, this is just “how he is” and he should quit while he’s ahead.

Changing Focus

Strangely enough, Ed and Gregory have the same problem at heart. Neither man has realistic expectations of himself. It’s how each man deals with those expectations that differs.

In their own way, both Ed and Gregory are perfectionists. One avoids his failures. The other embraces them completely. So how do we turn their mindsets around? How do we help them look at life more realistically if they can’t face that failure sometimes just is?

In order to convince both men that the world is not going to end with one piece out of place, we need to help them create back up plans for when things don’t work out. You can’t possible secure every possibility, but missing work and children’s hospital stays are fairly common things. There are other mishaps that happen everyday we can help these men plan for … and in doing so, face.

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