Negative Self Talk for Writers: Overgeneralizing
July 29, 2008 by John Hewitt
Overgeneralizing occurs when you take a single or rare event or fact and you use that as the basis for a negative opinion or outlook. Writers will often use overgeneralizations to take a single setback such as a bad review, a rejection, a missed deadline, a poorly written piece or a miscommunication and turn it into a major problem such as writer’s block.
Here is an example of overgeneralizing:
Poor self talk: I missed my deadline. My work was late. I can’t make my deadlines. How can I call myself a professional if I can’t deliver my work on time? Missing deadlines is so bad. I’m disorganized. I can’t handle challenges. I’m lazy. The client is never going to hire me again. She’s going to tell my other clients. She’s going to take away the recommendation she wrote. This is just like when I was a paperboy. I never got to the last house by seven a.m. Never! I was a failure then and I’m a failure now.
Realistic self talk: I missed my deadline. That hasn’t happened in a long time. I knew it was going to be tight though. I also had to deal with a power outage and last minute changes due to the results of the product test coming in late. The client seemed to understand. She said she had been out of the office with the flu anyway. Some of the problem was time management though. I read an article about that last week. I should give some of the ideas a try. There is always room for improvement.
Some ways to avoid overgeneralizing
- Ask yourself how often the problem really occurs
- Ask yourself if any of the factors were beyond your control
- Try to determine what real damage was done
- Try to find proactive ways to prevent the problem or deal with the problem if it occurs again
Note: The terminology I am using from an excellent textbook called Stress Management for Wellness by Walt Schafer
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Related links
- 4-Hour Work Week: Lessons for Writers (0.500)
- How to be a Productive Writer (0.500)
- Seven Powerful Tips for Maximizing Your Freelance Writing Business (0.500)
- Are You Determined Enough to be a Freelance Writer? (0.500)
- 5 Ways Writers Can Get Their Lives Back (0.500)
Contact John Hewitt
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I often find myself thinking that I never do any work, it’s not true I realized just last week. It’s always like this for me in the summer, work is slower but that doesn’t mean I never do anything. Nice post thanks
Malta bloggers last blog post..Jellyfish around Malta
I used to do this all the time. Now, my wife doesn’t let me. She repeats my words back to me so I can hear how ridiculous they sound.
Writer Dads last blog post..A New Renaissance
This whole series of posts has been excellent.
I’ve recently had dealings with a consultant who was prone to making sweeping generalisations that appeared to be reinforcing his own prejudices. Most of these appeared to be based upon heresay and rumour as opposed to hard fact. His ‘negative self talk’ appears to have been related to everyone else – but not himself.
@ MB,
I’m glad I could help. Effort is definitely one of the things we beat ourselves up over.
@ WD
That sounds great, just don’t tell MY wife about it.
@ Tony
Just try to avoid feeding into the same problem and You’ll be ok.
John,
This is a great series. So many of us writers experience these reactions.
@ Littlie
Thank you. I am doing this as much for me as for everyone else. I need to remind myself from time to time.