12 Irrational Ideas That Limit Personal Success

Last week at an advanced coaching training course which I attended we spoke a lot about the human growth potential and possible factors holding it back.

In this context we also discussed in depth the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
which was created and developed by the American psychotherapist and psychologist Albert Ellis. REBT is a practical, action-oriented approach to coping with problems and enhancing personal growth. It places a good deal of its focus on the present: on currently-held attitudes, painful emotions and maladaptive behaviors that can sabotage a fuller experience of life.

One of the fundamental premises of REBT is that humans, in most cases, do not merely get upset by unfortunate adversities, but also by how they construct their views of reality through their language, evaluative beliefs, meanings and philosophies about the world, themselves and others.

REBT argues that the following 12 core irrational ideas, which have been observed and analyzed over many years, are at the root of the most self-limiting thinking and believing factors:

• The idea that it is a dire necessity for adults to be loved by significant others for almost everything they do — instead of their concentrating on their own self-respect, on winning approval for practical purposes, and on loving rather than on being loved.
• The idea that certain acts are awful or wicked, and that people who perform such acts should be severely damned — instead of the idea that certain acts are self-defeating or antisocial, and that people who perform such acts are behaving stupidly, or ignorantly, and would be better helped to change.
• The idea that it is horrible when things are not the way we like them to be — instead of the idea that it is too bad, that we would better try to change or control bad conditions so that they become more satisfactory, and, if that is not possible, we had better temporarily accept and gracefully lump their existence.
• The idea that human misery is invariably externally caused and is forced on us by outside people and events — instead of the idea that it is largely caused by the view that we take of unfortunate conditions.
• The idea that if something is or may be dangerous or fearsome we should be terribly upset and endlessly obsessed about it — instead of the idea that one would better frankly face it and render it non-dangerous and, when that is not possible, accept the inevitable.
• The idea that it is easier to avoid than to face life difficulties and self - responsibilities — instead of the idea that the so-called easy way is usually much harder in the long run.
• The idea that we absolutely need something other or stronger or greater than ourselves on which to rely — instead of the idea that it is better to take the risks of thinking and acting less dependently.
• The idea that we should be thoroughly competent, intelligent, and achieving in all possible respects — instead of the idea that we would better do rather than always need to do well and accept ourselves as a quite imperfect creature, who has general human limitations and specific fallibilities.
• The idea that because something once strongly affected our life, it should indefinitely affect it — instead of the idea that we can learn from our past experiences but not be overly-attached to or prejudiced by them.
• The idea that we must have certain and perfect control over things — instead of the idea that the world is full of probability and chance and that we can still enjoy life despite this.
• The idea that human happiness can be achieved by inertia and inaction — instead of the idea that we tend to be happiest when we are vitally absorbed in creative pursuits, or when we are devoting ourselves to people or projects outside ourselves.
• The idea that we have virtually no control over our emotions and that we cannot help feeling disturbed about things — instead of the idea that we have real control over our destructive emotions if we choose to work at changing the musturbatory hypotheses which we often employ to create them.

What do you think? Do you limit yourself by similar ideas? Or how do you avoid having such ideas and thoughts? What is your thinking and belief pattern of personal growth and success?

Best regards,

Andreas von der Heydt

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Andreas von der Heydt is the Head and Director of Kindle Content at Amazon in Germany. Before that he held various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert and management coach. He also founded Consumer Goods Club. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His latest book is about what makes a future leader. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles only reflect his personal opinion.

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