159 - Why do we overplay the negatives and ignore the positives?

We have a habit of only seeing the evidence that supports our view of the world.  When stuff happens we can focus on the bits that help us to confirm what we already believe, regardless of how much the evidence is stacked against us.  When this perspective collides with unhelpful beliefs or negative self-image, then we start to Discount The Positives, another common thinking error that many of us do from time to time. In this episode, Graham and Paul explore how this trait that starts off sounding like humility can quickly undermine our own self-confidence and lead to us believing our success is luck while our failures represent our own inadequacies.  A sports star who puts their win down to their opponent's bad day, or a salesperson who believes their current run of luck is down to market conditions misses the point, that while we can all be lucky, the hard work learning and practicing, as well as showing up each day and putting in the graft, was most likely behind all of that so called luck!