Imagine this scenario. You're ready to present the company's latest goals and how they relate to the larger vision, but you've just spent the better part of the morning stuck—not physically, but in negative thought loop. Maybe it's a less-than-nice user review or an unpleasant exchange at a recent networking event. The point is, you're ruminating and deteriorating your ability to lead your team effectively—for more reasons than you can imagine.

most obvious, crunch it's distracting. It takes you out of the present and prevents you from doing work that requires deep focus, like preparing for an important speech. The sprays of negative thoughts worsen your mood and explorative has shown that depressive periods last. You can't put your best foot forward when you're not feeling well. But more importantly, people who tend to ruminate aren't just experiencing momentary sadness—they're internalizing negative feedback in their sense of self. This negative thought loop isn't just changing your mood; it's changing the way you see yourself as a leader.

I write regularly about my experiences as a CEO and founder of Your form. I share challenges and vulnerabilities. I don't try to present myself as flawless. The problem with rumination, as opposed to being tangible, is that it is often inaccurate. For example, you have a difficult interaction and spiral into believing that you are socially inept. The truth is more nuanced.

Self-reflection is important. Awareness is an important trait of a leader. But chewing – which WHAT defined as obsessive thinking that involves excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that interfere with other forms of mental activity – not serving you as an individual or your organization as its leader. Entrepreneurs are often obsessed with their businesses down to the last detail, and perfectionists are more likely to chew. If you're caught in negative thinking patterns, here are some strategies to help break the cycle.

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Try another spin

Once, when we released a product update, user reception was surprisingly lukewarm. The team felt that the new version was a big improvement. Judging by the numbers, our users disagreed. I was dizzy. I found myself obsessing over what the ordeal said about me as a leader. I started a company with a vision to make our users' lives easier. But if I couldn't envision how to do that—the tools and services to execute that vision—then what was I doing?

At one point, I remembered something I had read recently: You are not your thoughts. These ideas lived in my head, but that didn't mean they were reality.

When you are caught in a similar destructive thought pattern, first, identify and observe those thoughts objectively. like Harvard Business Review notes, “Instead of letting negative ideas feel like dictators in your life, gain perspective by observing them from a distance and reminding yourself that they are just thoughts.”

The researchers from the University of California Davis Center for Mind and Brain, proposed that reframing a negative experience may be a way to stop chewing and its mood-deteriorating effects. In my case, I can change the narrative from “I can't anticipate user needs” to “This update was a mistake, let's go back to the drawing board and figure out why.”

Like a news crew, you go through the different spins you can take on the same situation. Recent research using resting-state fMRI, a functional magnetic resonance imaging method that captures brain activity while the brain is at rest, concluded that rumination may be verbal or language-based. This means that changing your narrative—literally, uttering a different way to frame your thoughts—can help you break out of negative loops and positively affect your mood.

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Carve out (productive) worry time

I wrote to be one meta-planner (hat tip to Cal Newport). Everything I do is blocked in my electronic calendar, even planning time. When Greg Siegle, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who studies rumination, told New York Times that setting aside dedicated “worry or nap time” might facilitate some uninterrupted thinking, I dove right in.

But following the technique from sleep expert Lisa Strausstake the practice of carving “worry time” one step further. If rambling thoughts distract me from work or keep me awake at night, I grab a pen and a notepad and draw four columns. In the first column, I write down anything that stresses me out. In the second, write: Can I do anything about these stressors in the next two weeks? If the answer is no, I remind myself that there's nothing I can do whenever the thought pops up—at least not right now. If so, I describe what I can do in the third column. In the fourth column, I give myself a deadline.

Why do I find this technique effective?

Because simply telling yourself not to think something isn't effective. (Don't think of a pink elephant.) Giving yourself a task, turning obsessive thoughts into actionable steps, is. As Strauss told him Washington Post, “(We) don't need to do these things perfectly for them to be useful.” Even if there is no solution, taking a step back from my thoughts and taking time to chart has a calming effect.

They say, “The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.” The strategies above help me regain control. I can return to work with a lighter mind, with more bandwidth to focus and more attention to pay to my colleagues.