Home · Challenges · Themes
Redirecting Unhelpful Thoughts
For thoughts that run in circles, jump to the worst case, or talk you down. Each day offers one practical way to catch an unhelpful thought and steer it somewhere more useful.
Thinking · Thinking Traps · CBT · one to-do a day · you choose how many days
The first seven days
- Day 1Catch one unhelpful thought today and write it down word for word.
- Day 2Take a thought that upset you and ask: what is the evidence for it, and what is the evidence against it?
- Day 3Notice one "always" or "never" in your thinking today and swap it for "sometimes."
- Day 4When a thought says the worst will happen, write down the most likely outcome next to it.
- Day 5Ask yourself what you would say to a friend who had the thought you just had. Say that to yourself.
- Day 6Notice one time today you assumed you knew what someone else was thinking. Write down two other possibilities.
- Day 7Turn one "I should" into "I could" or "I would like to" and see how it changes the pressure.
Further into the year
The to-dos keep changing as the year goes on. A few from later in this theme:
- Day 30Review your notes from this challenge and circle the thinking pattern that showed up most. Name it so you can spot it faster.
- Day 60Pick a thought that is loud at work and ask whether it would sound the same at home. Write down the difference.
- Day 120While doing dishes or laundry tonight, listen for one repeated thought and answer it with one sentence of evidence.
- Day 240Spot a thought that says you have nothing to add to a conversation, and write down one question you could ask instead.
- Day 365Write the fair version of a thought on a card and tuck it into your winter coat pocket to find on a cold morning.
How a challenge works
A Theraglee challenge is a theme with one small to-do for every day of a year. You choose how long yours runs, anywhere from a week to the full year, and each day you get the next to-do: something that takes a few minutes and fits inside an ordinary day. Tick it off when it is done. Nothing is scored and nothing is lost if you miss a day; the next to-do is simply waiting when you come back.
Challenges come with a free Theraglee account, which never asks for a card. Your progress stays private to you.