Start with your ‘Saboteurs’ – Also Known as ‘Our Internal Critic’ or ‘Negative Self Talk’
Our mindset influences our behaviours. Saboteurs are the negative thoughts that become habitual and work against our best interests, particularly in challenging situations. They are often developed from childhood and can create stress, anxiety, and roadblocks in our lives if you listen to them too much.
Whilst external factors may challenge us, how we react to our saboteurs can cause self-sabotage. One example is the voice in your head that may say ‘I am not good at this, don’t do it’ when you are asked to present to an audience on your expertise. The sage mindset is coming from wisdom, experience, and insight on how to manage challenging situations. The sage mindset might say, ‘Remember you know more than the audience on this topic’.
Positive Intelligence is a way of measuring or assessing how much you are mastering your own mind or another way to look at it is your level of mental fitness!
The Positive Intelligence indicator (PQ) has been developed by Shirzad Chamine, Home | Positive Intelligence based on his extensive coaching and research on how people’s mindset affects their success to overcome challenges.
The assessment looks at your Top Saboteurs! We all have them. Think about that internal voice that leads you to avoid situations or people, or when you play the role of Victim, or perhaps when you display those A -type Hyper Achiever traits, or are constantly making Judgements about yourself or others, or maybe you are a people Pleaser! There are 10 core Saboteurs and most of us have a couple that are big and can cause us a lot of stress and anxiety
This exercise will help you to identify your top saboteurs and watch out for situations that may trigger these negative thoughts. Then develop strategies to manage a positive mindset and flip into your sage mindset before acting on your saboteurs. Completing this exercise will also help you to understand other people’s saboteurs too. Download the exercise below.
Ted Talk
Before completing the exercise and taking the assessment you may like to watch the 20 minute Ted Talk by Shirzard Chamine Know your inner saboteurs: Shirzad Chamine at TEDxStanford – Bing video
If you are experiencing stress, anxiety and don’t feel that your mentally as strong as you would like to be, this is the perfect first step to start making some positive changes to your mental fitness and wellbeing.