How to Flip the Script

One interesting technique that you can use when you are feeling unsure of a situation and how it may affect you is to “Flip the Script.”  This is a practice whereby you turn a situation around and look at it from a positive angle instead of a potentially negative one.  It is also known as being a “reverse paranoid”.

You can think of the situation as a good thing, even if it might be considered bad.  As an example, if there is an important meeting at work, and you are not invited to it, many would interpret that as a bad thing.  If other employees of a certain level are being invited, you might thing that not being there means that the company does not value you and you may even think that your job might not exist much longer.

If you flip the script, however, you could immediately find the positives in this situation.  You could think about all of the “important” meetings you were in that were a complete waste of time and be thankful that you have not had to sit through another one.  Just thinking that it is probably another terrible meeting will lift your spirits.

You could also think that the management of the company values you so much that they would not invite you to such a meeting because your knowledge and capability are already more advanced than what they will discuss at the meeting and that they would be wasting your time by having you attend.

You may also know that often if you are a top performer at a company, you would not be required to attend certain meetings because they are for those that require more help.

Being a reverse paranoid can help you with many seemingly negative situations. 

If you did not get a job you were interested in, you can think about how you probably would not have been a good fit if the management did not offer it to you and you might not have been happy there.

Or you could see this as a sign that a better opportunity is out there for you to find.

If you went on a bad date, you could think that about the fact that that is one less person you will ever date again.  Or, like the job situation, that there is someone out there for you when the time is right.

If you missed out on a great investment, you could interpret that as a sign that you need to learn more about investing so that you are ready for the next one.  Or that a much better investment is coming and that you will be able to take advantage of it when it does rather than be locked into a lesser one.

When using this technique, it is important to keep in mind several things.  First of all, in these cases, you do not really have control over the negative situations, but you can control how you react to them. 

Secondly, you are not adopting a positive mindset about them for sake of a psychological trick to make yourself feel better.  You need to keep reality in mind and not just think that you are better than the situation.  The reasons that you are able to “flip the script” must be genuine and plausible.  In the example of the meeting, if everyone at your level of expertise and knowledge has been invited, except you, there may be a reason for that that you need to explore, even if it turns out to be nothing.

With all of this in mind, becoming a reverse paranoid can make your life so much more relaxing because you remove the hold that events have on you and you concentrate on your positive response to them.