Stretch by Scott Sonenshein

Author:Scott Sonenshein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Some people struggle to beautify their own heads. Despite our natural tendency to set positive expectations for ourselves, there are times when we put the dunce cap on ourselves. Becoming our own most vicious critics leads us to expect little of ourselves. Negative “tapes” play in our heads, telling us why we can’t do something or how we’re not good enough, or that we are impostors in situations where we could be leaders.

In one study, Katy DeCelles, Jane Dutton, and I interviewed people who worked tirelessly to improve the environment. These stewards of natural resources took jobs that allowed them to influence how companies changed products to be more sustainable and regularly talked people they knew into being more responsible with natural resources. Besides their remarkable dedication and extensive work to help the environment, many of them shared another common attitude: self-defeat.

Most people we interviewed doubted they were doing enough to make a difference for the environment, which made little sense until we dug deeper. We found that they undermined themselves by insisting their efforts were always short of someone else’s. If a person drove a hybrid, he wondered why he didn’t take public transportation instead. A woman who took public transportation questioned why she wasn’t walking instead. One person we interviewed did an analysis of her meals to determine their full environmental impact and bought carbon offsets for her travel. We found these actions quite notable, but she was far from impressed. She told us, “Knowing the facts I know, I still choose actions that aren’t always right. . . . I eat meat. I drink wine and beer. . . . I’ll buy Patagonia when I can, but I also buy North Face.”*

The antidote to this destructive thinking, our research found, was to plant positive seeds. By reflecting on the resources the environmentalists had—knowledge, experience, and values—we found that they were able to protect themselves from their lingering poor expectations and do more to advance their cause. But without seeding positive expectations, the environmentalists, despite their passion and best intentions, fell short of achieving their goals.

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