OK, perhaps the title is a bit excessive, but there's an interesting point in this write up:
Across all the studies, results showed that those who rated their own performance as much higher than it actually was were significantly more likely to feel dejected. “Distress following excessive self-praise is likely to occur when a person’s inadequacy is exposed, and because inaccurate self-assessments can prevent self-improvement,” said co-author Chi-Yue Chiu, of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/too-much-undeserved-self-praise-can-lead-to-depression
Obviously there's a causality question here - are people who are less secure more likely to be depressed, and avoid it by puffing themselves up? Or, is the causality as stated - puffing oneself up is a set up for a fall?
Interestingly, there are other variables - some people who are competent seem to thrive when they repeat negative messages to themselves. No matter what they do, they still focus on what that fail at, or what they miss the mark at. No self help guru, though, would advise that course of action. They typically advise people to celebrate their accomplishments, to "anchor" in the feelings of success. No one, however, would advocate self deception as the means to a fuller enjoyment of life, so perhaps this study only confirms what we all know anyway.
In my experience, for people to desire improvement, people need to perceive inadequacy, to a degree - or as Peter Senge termed it in The Fifth Discipline, awareness of a gap between the physical condition they would like to be in and the physical condition they perceive they are in. They need to believe they can close the gap between where they are and where they "should" be. They have to have a degree of hunger for improvement which exceeds their perception of how difficult it will be to improve. Those are necessary preconditions, but they are not sufficient to cause changes in behavior. There could be any number of other barriers which might inhibit a person's motive to become more fit. If you are that person, trying to get started on getting fit, you must identify the barriers and find ways to remove them or diminish their impact.
Consider, however, the person that is not in shape, but thinks that they are. What happens when that person is confronted with the reality of their condition? In other words, this article highlights the expression "the truth hurts."
If you've been struck by an upleasant truth lately as regards your health or fitness, the obvious question is "what do I do about it?"
First, use objective measures of truth - for weight, that means a scale and a tape, either one alone tells you much less than when they are used together. If you can only use one objective measure, use a tape of your waist.
Two - establish a motivating goal, and identify what portion of that goal you are willing to attempt to accomplish. For those in the throes of the full catastrophe of life, I do not recommend an attempt on Mount Everest.
Three - take action now towards accomplishing your goal
Four - mark and celebrate every accomplishment on the road to your goal
Five - continuously learn how to get yourself to work towards the outcomes you want. Read on the subject of interest, at least weekly. Find others with the same interest and work together.
Six - learn to identify and remove your unconscious inhibitions to change (like believing you cannot succeed based on prior attempts to change which were unsucessful).
Seven - seek out help. There is a burgeoning industry of what is termed a "life coach", and these are people who specialize in training the rest of us how to "manipulate ourselves." Can't quit eating pizza? Can't stop watching TV? Can't get yourself to workout for any consistent length of time? These folks help you deal with that sort of thing and more.
A an example I've heard of that captures the idea behind this approach to change describes the conscious mind as the elephant rider and the unconscious mind as they elephant. One has massive power but a dim perception of external reality. The other has a clearer perception of reality, but virtually no power to force the other to do anything. Learning how to guide the elephant with greater skill is worth learning for anyone that desires to be more than a passenger in life!
Across all the studies, results showed that those who rated their own performance as much higher than it actually was were significantly more likely to feel dejected. “Distress following excessive self-praise is likely to occur when a person’s inadequacy is exposed, and because inaccurate self-assessments can prevent self-improvement,” said co-author Chi-Yue Chiu, of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/too-much-undeserved-self-praise-can-lead-to-depression
Obviously there's a causality question here - are people who are less secure more likely to be depressed, and avoid it by puffing themselves up? Or, is the causality as stated - puffing oneself up is a set up for a fall?
Interestingly, there are other variables - some people who are competent seem to thrive when they repeat negative messages to themselves. No matter what they do, they still focus on what that fail at, or what they miss the mark at. No self help guru, though, would advise that course of action. They typically advise people to celebrate their accomplishments, to "anchor" in the feelings of success. No one, however, would advocate self deception as the means to a fuller enjoyment of life, so perhaps this study only confirms what we all know anyway.
In my experience, for people to desire improvement, people need to perceive inadequacy, to a degree - or as Peter Senge termed it in The Fifth Discipline, awareness of a gap between the physical condition they would like to be in and the physical condition they perceive they are in. They need to believe they can close the gap between where they are and where they "should" be. They have to have a degree of hunger for improvement which exceeds their perception of how difficult it will be to improve. Those are necessary preconditions, but they are not sufficient to cause changes in behavior. There could be any number of other barriers which might inhibit a person's motive to become more fit. If you are that person, trying to get started on getting fit, you must identify the barriers and find ways to remove them or diminish their impact.
Consider, however, the person that is not in shape, but thinks that they are. What happens when that person is confronted with the reality of their condition? In other words, this article highlights the expression "the truth hurts."
If you've been struck by an upleasant truth lately as regards your health or fitness, the obvious question is "what do I do about it?"
First, use objective measures of truth - for weight, that means a scale and a tape, either one alone tells you much less than when they are used together. If you can only use one objective measure, use a tape of your waist.
Two - establish a motivating goal, and identify what portion of that goal you are willing to attempt to accomplish. For those in the throes of the full catastrophe of life, I do not recommend an attempt on Mount Everest.
Three - take action now towards accomplishing your goal
Four - mark and celebrate every accomplishment on the road to your goal
Five - continuously learn how to get yourself to work towards the outcomes you want. Read on the subject of interest, at least weekly. Find others with the same interest and work together.
Six - learn to identify and remove your unconscious inhibitions to change (like believing you cannot succeed based on prior attempts to change which were unsucessful).
Seven - seek out help. There is a burgeoning industry of what is termed a "life coach", and these are people who specialize in training the rest of us how to "manipulate ourselves." Can't quit eating pizza? Can't stop watching TV? Can't get yourself to workout for any consistent length of time? These folks help you deal with that sort of thing and more.
A an example I've heard of that captures the idea behind this approach to change describes the conscious mind as the elephant rider and the unconscious mind as they elephant. One has massive power but a dim perception of external reality. The other has a clearer perception of reality, but virtually no power to force the other to do anything. Learning how to guide the elephant with greater skill is worth learning for anyone that desires to be more than a passenger in life!
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