Overcoming Negativity Bias: Strategies to Avoid Complaints and Build Resilience
This is the Mindset for Life podcast, a place for personal stories, coaching, neuroscience and my favorite positive psychology tools to master life, relationships and work. I'm your host. Bethanie Hansen. Read on for an episode summary, action items from the episode, and coaching tips. A transcript is available in the podcast player tool. And, if today is the right time for you to work with a coach, the contact form is available on this page.
Episode Summary:
In today's episode, we'll focus on the impact of complaints on the brain, emphasizing the importance of avoiding complaints about others due to negativity bias, which reinforces negative thoughts. I'll share a personal experience of being criticized at work and practicing compassion and self-compassion. Complaining triggers cortisol release, leading to stress and potential health issues. I'll highlight the negative effects of neural rewiring, which can make it harder to feel gratitude. To counteract these effects, consider healthy boundaries, focusing on strengths, and cultivating a positive mental attitude through resilience and acceptance.
Action Items:
After listening to today's podcast, you might consider these action steps:

Cultivate compassion for the person who complained about you.
Practice self-compassion and speak positively about yourself.
Set healthy boundaries and be proactive in sharing your accomplishments.
Focus on your strengths and be judicious in how you share them.
Experiment with creating a more positive mental attitude by considering alternative possibilities and believing in the potential for future change.

The key is to notice negative bias, cultivate a positive mental attitude, and build resilience.
Ready for Your Own Coach?

Coaching Tips:

Here are some coaching tips that support the content from this podcast episode on overcoming negativity bias and avoiding complaints:
Practice self-awareness.
Be mindful of when you start to slip into a pattern of complaining or criticizing others. Catch yourself in the moment and redirect your thoughts.
Cultivate compassion.
When someone criticizes you, try to understand their perspective with empathy.

Ask yourself what might be causing them to feel that way, rather than getting defensive.
Reframe your self-talk.
Instead of dwelling on negative feedback, intentionally focus on your strengths and positive attributes.

Speak to yourself with kindness and encouragement.
Set healthy boundaries.
You can't control what others say about you, but you can control what you allow to influence your own mindset and emotions.

Decide what feedback is worth considering and what you need to let go of.
Communicate proactively.
Share your accomplishments and the positive things you're working on regularly.

This helps paint a more balanced picture for those around you.
Build resilience.
View setbacks as opportunities for growth.

Reflect on how you can learn and improve, rather than just feeling hurt or defeated.
Cultivate gratitude.
Make a habit of noticing and appreciating the good in your life.

This can help counteract a negativity bias.
Envision the future.
Believe that things can get better, even if the current situation is challenging.

Imagine positive possibilities for how relationships and circumstances could improve.

Consistently applying these coaching tips can help clients develop more constructive thought patterns and behaviors, rather than getting stuck in a cycle of complaints and criticism.

-----

This episode's theme song is "Take It Up A Level" by Bethanie Hansen and SUNO AI. Used with Permission. Like what you read here? In this podcast, I’m sharing some core principles I’ve learned in coaching that have completely changed my life. And I share them in 1:1 and workshop work with teachers who want a change in their lives, career direction,