I avoid negative thoughts about myself

Scope is what turns a bad afternoon into a bad person. *That went badly* is about a Tuesday. *I'm someone things go badly for* is about you, permanently, and can't be tested or corrected.

Thoughts about yourself are the ones that spread. A missed deadline stays a missed deadline for roughly four seconds before it becomes evidence in a much older case.

Nobody can stop the four seconds. What can be done is to notice the moment the scope widens — the small click where an event turns into a character.

Keeping a complaint the size it actually is doesn't make you soft on yourself. It makes it answerable, which the larger version never was.