Do you ever feel like one mistake defines your entire performance? Do you catch yourself overthinking and expecting the worst? Does the pressure to be perfect hold you back? Do you assume others are talking about you and judging you negatively? Find yourself saying "always" and "never" even if it's not true?

You're not alone. The human brain defaults to negative thinking - and it's so common this phenomenon has a name: Automatic Negative Thoughts, or ANTs. Left unchecked, these ANTs can infest your mind, derail your performance and steal your enjoyment.

In this episode, we cover:

1. The differences between thoughts, feelings, emotions and moods
2. A breakdown of the 9 ANTs that you are likely dealing with every day
3. A simple 3-step strategy to stomp out these ANTs 

00:00 Glory Days & Missing the Opportunity of a Lifetime

01:34 The Human Brain Defaults to Negative Thinking

02:29 An Intro to ANTs

04:01 Revisiting Thoughts, Emotions, Feelings & Moods

04:30 Thoughts (and Dark Thoughts)

06:58 Emotions

08:22 Feelings

11:13 Moods

13:40 Recognizing the ANT Infestation

14:12 ANT 1: Always & Never Thinking

15:36 ANT 2: Focusing on the Negative/Discounting the Positive

17:29 ANT 3: Catastrophizing & Worst Case Scenarios

19:25 ANT 4: Mind Reading & the Spotlight Effect

21:11 ANT 5: Thinking with your Feelings

22:30 ANT 6: Guilt Beatings, Shaming & Perfectionism

24:08 ANT 7: Labeling

25:03 ANT 8: Personalization

26:35 ANT 9: Blame

28:31 Three Steps to Fight the ANTs: Awareness, Challenging, Replacing

32:14 Wrap-Up & Gratitude