Prior to his death in 2007, Psychology Today named Albert Ellis the “greatest living psychologist.”
Ellis was known for teaching people how to challenge their self-defeating thoughts and beliefs.
He didn’t just teach these principles, he also lived them.
As a young man, Ellis was incredibly shy and he feared talking to women.
He was terrified of getting rejected, so he avoided ever asking a woman out on a date.
But, ultimately, he knew that rejection wasn’t the worst thing in the world and decided to face his fears.
He went to a local botanical garden every day for a month.
Whenever he saw a woman sitting by herself on a bench, he sat next to her.
He forced himself to start up a conversation within one minute of sitting down.
In that month, he found 130 opportunities to speak with women and of those 130, 30 women got up and walked away as soon as he sat down.
But he started conversations with the rest.
Out of the 100 women he invited on a date, one said yes-however, she didn’t show up.
But Ellis didn’t despair. Instead, it reinforced to him that he could tolerate taking risks even when he feared rejection.
By facing his fears, Ellis recognized his irrational thoughts that had made him more fearful of taking risks.
Understanding how these thoughts influenced his feelings helped him later develop new therapy techniques that would help other people challenge their irrational thinking.
Like Ellis, monitor the outcome of the risks that you take.
Take notice of how you felt before, during, and after taking a risk.
Ask yourself what you learned and how you can apply that knowledge to future decisions.
Негізгі бет PRACTICE TAKING RISKS
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