Exercise · Managing Your Inner Resources: Energy, Motivation, Recovery
Belief Review
Find your own limiting work beliefs using marker words and see how much energy they take.
Time30 minutes
ParticipantsIndividually, then pairs
MaterialsParticipant workbook
From the trainingManaging Your Inner Resources: Energy, Motivation, Recovery
Why this exercise
Between an event and an emotion there is a link we do not notice — a thought about the event (inspired by A. Ellis's ABC model). Some thoughts become rules: "I must do everything perfectly", "asking for help is weakness". Once they helped, but now they can drain a lot of strength. You can recognize them by words like "must", "always", "never", "can't".
How to run it
- Show the "event — thought — emotion — action" model with a work example, and the list of marker words.
- 15 minutes, individually: write down 3–5 of your work beliefs containing marker words. For each, fill in "because…" (where it comes from) and "which means that…" (what it leads to at work).
- Mark the one belief that drains the most energy.
- 12 minutes in pairs: if you wish, share one belief. The partner does not argue but asks: "When has this belief helped you? When does it get in the way?"
- General round: which beliefs come up most often — the trainer writes them on the flip chart without names.
Debrief questions
- Which beliefs turned out to be shared by the group?
- When did your belief help, and when did it start getting in the way?
Tips for the facilitator
- A belief is not a "bad" part of a person. The task is not to get rid of it but to make it more flexible.
- If a participant goes into painful memories, gently bring them back to work situations: deep work with the past is a matter for a psychologist, not for a training.
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