Growth

Book Review: Enjoying Work is Easy as CBT

I am a very slow reader. While I enjoy reading, I cannot say I am an avid reader. Guilty of being influenced by social media. There are days when I prefer to watch youtube than read, though it is not the best habit nor is it the most productive one. Regardless, I have books which I have completed and I think some like, this one, is a recommended read from my perspective.

I have finished reading Enjoying Work is as Easy as CBT by Gill Garratt. I find that what was shared in the book was very applicable to our daily lives and the examples shared were realistic and could have happened at work, which I really appreciate.

This is a very small book. The practical guide series are all small and I am encouraged to read them now.

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Throughout the book, the one consist concept is the usage of the CBT Think Kit which is represented by the ABC framework.

A stands for Actual Situation

B stands for Belief

C stands for Consequence

When something unpleasant happens, we might get angry or upset, which is a consequence. It is encouraged for us to take a step back to evaluate what is the actual situation and what is our belief. This helps us stay calm. For instance, I got angry when someone cuts my queue when I am queuing up for my meal. As I am angry, I scolded the person who cut my queue. And because of that, I think it is an unlucky day.

Applying the CBT Think Kit, the Actual situation is that someone cut my queue. My Belief is that everyone should play their part in being orderly, to follow instructions and not cut queues. If they do, they are bullying or they are rude. These beliefs which I have resulted in me getting angry and wanting to “stand up for myself”, I started to scold the person.

If I were to take a step back, in a mild situation, it could be that the person was not aware of where to queue. Even if the person has decided to cut queue deliberately, I could think that I would prefer that my queue is not cut but sometimes it happens and I can live with it. It is a one-off event with little impact to myself, and even lesser impact to the rest of my day. Even if I were to shout at the person, how would that help me? How can I get more out of that situation? I might get a better outcome if I approach the person calmly to encourage him/her to queue properly.

What’s important is not the other person, it is how we feel and how that impacts us.

The book touched on different emotions which a worker might face at work – anxiety, anger, depression etc. All using very realistic examples and hence it was really easy to relate to.

The emotion which I am usually feeling at work is anger, which can be broken down to if I am angry with myself, with others or with the world. For my case, currently it is usually the world, which I can do little about. This type of anger only compounds my own happiness, hence it is advisable that I review what I can do / what I am thinking when I am faced with situations I have no control over.

In gist, it does help when we take a step back to evaluate the situation and review what are our beliefs which resulted in the negative emotions we are feeling.

Everyone goes through dark periods of our lives. It is not possible to feel happy 100% of the time. I have gone for therapy before, and I do recognise that some of the techniques used by the counsellor or psychologist is actually CBT, which uses Stoic concepts. I have yet to explore Stoic concepts in total but I think this little book is a good start and would definitely recommend this read.