Here is a case study -

Say, john’s friends invites him to participate on their quiz team. and john is feeling very tense about it and it is risk situation for him. he want to develop  realistic expectations for this situation like any other person. This is why, he answered the worksheet questions .

Now, may be you have question -why he did this or how he will be able to reduce intensity of the situation read this article first.

Here is a worksheet that john used and you can also have it ..

Download area: one worksheet

Case study :  John’s  answers of the worksheet questions are -

What is the at- risk situation?
Answer : My friends invited  me to be on their team in a quiz night.

Answer :I do not have to be really good it s just a quiz night . They are my reinds , they are just there to have fun and don’t really care about winning or who answers what. It is likely that i will be able to answer some questions that are in my are a of interest. How i do at a quiz night is not a reflection of who i am as a person- everyone has their strength and weakness.

What am i expecting? What i am predicting? What do i see happening in this situation? What conclusions am i jumping to?

What’s a more realistic expectation?

Answer: I will be no good, i will make them lose i will make a complete fool of myself; everyone will see how dumb i am ; the others will wish i wasn’t on their team.

What is the evidence for my expectations?
Answer: There are times i don’t know the answers to other people’s questions there are times i am not up to speed with the current affairs.

now he Get a  realistic solution or expectation

What is the evidence against my expectations?
Answer: I have been able to answer some questions at quiz nights before. I have had experiences where i have known things that other people haven’t.

Are there any positives in me or the situation i am going to face ?
Answer:Its a team afford. If we lose it isn’t just one person’s fault . I am good at music and history  questions , so it is likely i might know some of the answers to those type s of questions.

How likely is it that what i am expecting will actually happen in scale of 0 % to 100%?

What is the worst thing that can happen?
Answer: I will not be able to answer a single question correctly, we will lose because of me and my team mate will not talk to me for the rest of the night.

What i s the best thing that could happen?
Answer : I will know the answers to the most questions and because of me our team will win. my freind will be proud of me.

What is the most likely thing that will happen ?

Answer: I will be able to answer questions and our team will do OK.

How else i could view the situation ?
Answer: It’s just a quiz night . Its supposed to be fun. They probably invited for their company and to have fun , rather than their intellectual abilities. They probably don’t take it that seriously . Quiz nights are suppose to be tricky- they may ask question s that are in areas i know little about . That doesn’t mean that i am dumb or know nothing.

How does it affect me when i expect the worst?
Answer: Expecting the  worst makes me feel anxious and likely not go to something that is supposed to be fun.

If the the worst did happen, what could i do to cope?
Answer:If i couldn’t answer anything , i could make a joke of it to the other es, they probably forget about it within few days.

now practice yourself:  download and use the worksheet form above