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Example of cognitive reframing


Using cognitive reframing to encourage behavior change

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    Helping patients change negative behaviors that are leading to negative outcomes in their lives can be incredibly difficult. One tool that can help is cognitive reframing, which focuses on changing distorted or dysfunctional thoughts in order to change negative emotions and maladaptive behaviors, as opposed to focusing exclusively on changing the behavior.

    The premise of cognitive reframing is that our thoughts about our experiences drive our emotions, actions, and outcomes. Negative thoughts lead to negative behaviors; positive and productive thoughts lead to positive and productive behaviors. While we can't change negative experiences in our past and shouldn't deny their impact, we may need to change our thinking about the past if it is limiting our effectiveness in the present.

    Some common cognitive distortions include the following:

    • Filtering: An exclusive focus on a single negative aspect of a situation,
    • Polarized thinking: A belief that something is all good or all bad,
    • Overgeneralization: A broad conclusion based on a single incident or unpleasant event,
    • Jumping to conclusions: A hasty conclusion about someone's thoughts or behavior,
    • Catastrophizing: An expectation that disaster has struck,
    • Blaming: Holding other people responsible for our outcomes.

    Reframing allows us to interpret our experiences in more positive and productive ways. For example, a patient's thoughts about being overweight might be “This isn't fair. My spouse can eat anything and never gains weight.” This elicits emotions such as shame, fear, anger, and anxiety. The patient might blame the spouse, causing conflict and isolation. Reframing the experience opens the door for better outcomes. For example, the patient can choose to think “I can do this. I have a support system and the resources I need to eat better and start exercising.” This reframing elicits gratefulness and optimism, ultimately leading to a better result.

    Read the full article in FPM: “Building Community Well-being Through Emotional Intelligence and Cognitive Reframing.”

    Posted on Feb 15, 2021 by FPM Editors

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    Cognitive Restructuring: Techniques and Examples

    Most people experience negative thought patterns from time to time, but sometimes these patterns become so entrenched that they interfere with relationships, achievements, and even well-being.

    Cognitive restructuring is a group of therapeutic techniques that help people notice and change their negative thinking patterns.

    When thought patterns become destructive and self-defeating, it’s a good idea to explore ways to interrupt and redirect them. That’s what cognitive restructuring can do.

    Cognitive restructuring is at the heart of cognitive behavioral therapy, a well-studied talk therapy approach that can be effective at treating many mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety disorders.

    In cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a patient and therapist work together to identify faulty thought patterns that are contributing to a problem and practice techniques to help reshape negative thought patterns.

    It can be tricky to recognize inaccuracies in your own thought patterns. For that reason, most professionals recommend that you work with a therapist when you begin cognitive restructuring.

    As the name suggests, cognitive restructuring techniques deconstruct unhelpful thoughts and rebuild them in a more balanced and accurate way.

    People sometimes experience cognitive distortions — thought patterns that create a distorted, unhealthy view of reality. Cognitive distortions often lead to depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and self-defeating behaviors.

    Some examples of cognitive distortions include:

    • black-and-white thinking
    • catastrophizing
    • overgeneralizing
    • personalizing

    Cognitive restructuring offers an opportunity to notice these maladaptive thoughts as they’re occurring. You can then practice reframing these thoughts in more accurate and helpful ways.

    The theory is that if you can change how you look at certain events or circumstances, you may be able to change the feelings you have and the actions you take.

    So how exactly do you restructure a negative thought?

    Although anyone can use cognitive restructuring techniques to improve their thinking habits, many people find it helpful to collaborate with a therapist.

    A therapist can help you learn which cognitive distortions are affecting you. They can also explain how and why a thought is irrational or inaccurate.

    A therapist can also help you learn how to “question” faulty thought patterns and redesign them so they’re more positive.

    Here’s a brief guide to some of the strategies involved in cognitive restructuring:

    To change an unproductive thought pattern, you have to be able to identify the error you’re making. Cognitive restructuring depends on your ability to notice the thoughts that spark negative feelings and states of mind.

    It’s also useful to notice when and where the thoughts come up. It may be that you’re more vulnerable to cognitive distortions in certain situations. Knowing what those situations are may help you prepare in advance.

    For example, if you’re a student who has trouble with anxiety, you might notice a pattern of catastrophizing in testing environments. Maybe your pattern goes something like this: I am absolutely going to fail this test, and fail the course, and not be able to graduate with everybody else. Everyone is going to know I’ve failed.

    Knowing that vulnerability exists can help you catch your negative thought and change it before it gets the better of you.

    Some people find it helpful to journal as part of the process. Even if you aren’t sure at first what’s caused your anxiety or sadness, writing down your thoughts may help you recognize a cognitive distortion or pattern.

    As you practice self-monitoring, you’ll likely start noticing distorted thought patterns more quickly.

    Another essential part of cognitive restructuring is learning how to question your thoughts and assumptions, especially those that seem to get in the way of living a productive life.

    A therapist can teach you how to use a Socratic questioning method to find out where and how your automatic thoughts are biased or illogical.

    Some questions you might ask include:

    • Is this thought based on emotion or facts?
    • What evidence is there that this thought is accurate?
    • What evidence is there that this thought isn’t accurate?
    • How could I test this belief?
    • What’s the worst that could happen? How could I respond if the worst happens?
    • What other ways could this information be interpreted?
    • Is this really a black-and-white situation or are there shades of grey here?

    If you’re experiencing the cognitive distortion called catastrophizing, for example, you might tend to assume the worst possible outcome in a stressful situation. In questioning this thought pattern, you could ask yourself to list all possible outcomes. You could ask yourself how likely each possible outcome is.

    Questioning allows you to consider new possibilities that aren’t as drastic as the catastrophic ones you may fear.

    A key element of cognitive restructuring is gathering evidence.

    You may decide to keep track of the events that trigger a response, including who you were with and what you were doing. You may want to record how strong each response is and what memories came up as a result.

    You might also gather evidence for or against your thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs. Cognitive distortions are biased and inaccurate, but they can also be deeply embedded. Dislodging and replacing them requires evidence about how rational they are.

    You may need to list facts that show a belief is accurate, and compare the list to facts that show the belief is distorted or just plain incorrect.

    For example, if you personalize other people’s actions, you may often blame yourself for things that aren’t your fault. You might benefit from looking at evidence that indicates an action has nothing to do with you at all.

    Using this strategy, you would consider the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining a certain cognitive distortion.

    You could ask yourself:

    • What do you get out of calling yourself a complete idiot, for example?
    • What does this thought pattern cost you emotionally and practically speaking?
    • What are the long-term effects?
    • How does this thought pattern affect the people around you?
    • How does it advance or limit your job performance?

    Seeing the pros and cons side by side can help you decide whether it’s worth changing the pattern.

    Here’s a recent celebrity example of how a cost-benefit analysis works:

    In her show “Nanette,” comedian Hannah Gadsby talked about how she built a career on self-deprecating humor. But at a certain point, the harm she was doing to her sense of self outweighed the benefits to her career. So she decided to stop tearing herself down as a means of making jokes.

    “Nanette” was wildly successful, in part because so many people recognize the harmful trade-offs they make every day.

    Cognitive restructuring helps people find new ways of looking at the things that happen to them. Part of the practice involves coming up with alternative explanations that are rational and positive to replace the distortions that have been adopted over time.

    For example, if you didn’t score as well on a test, instead of generalizing that you’re terrible at math, you might explore ways you could change your study habits. Or, you could explore some relaxation techniques you could try before your next test.

    Here’s another example: If a group of colleagues stop talking when you walk into a room, instead of jumping to the conclusion that they were talking about you, you might want to consider other explanations for their actions. By doing so, you may realize that the situation had nothing to do with you, or that you misinterpreted what was going on.

    Generating alternatives can also include creating positive affirmations to replace inaccurate or unhelpful thought patterns.

    You might want to repeat to yourself that you make valuable, positive contributions at work, and that your colleagues always include you in what’s going on. You can base these affirmations on a list of contributions you’ve actually made, and the positive relationships you’ve built.

    Although it’s helpful to work with a therapist at first, cognitive restructuring is a method you can learn to do on your own once you know how it works.

    Being able to identify and change your negative thought patterns has many benefits. For instance, it may help to:

    • lower your stress and alleviate anxiety
    • strengthen your communication skills and build healthier relationships
    • replace unhealthy coping mechanisms like substance use
    • rebuild self-confidence and self-esteem

    The American Psychological Association recommends CBT to help with:

    • eating disorders
    • depression
    • anxiety
    • PTSD
    • substance use disorder
    • mental illness
    • marital problems

    It can also help you navigate difficult transitions like divorce, a serious illness, or the loss of a loved one.

    In any life situation where negative thought patterns develop, cognitive restructuring can help you challenge and change unhelpful thoughts.

    Since it’s recommended that people work with a therapist, one potential drawback to cognitive restructuring might be the out-of-pocket financial cost of therapy sessions.

    Doctors at Mayo Clinic note that in some cases CBT techniques may be most effective when combined with medication.

    Cognitive restructuring is one of the core components of cognitive behavioral therapy.

    Most of the time, cognitive restructuring is collaborative. A patient typically works with a therapist to identify faulty thought patterns and replace them with healthier, more accurate ways of looking at events and circumstances.

    Cognitive restructuring can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, and it may help with a range of other mental health issues.

    Reframing - what is it in psychology, examples, exercises

    Do you agree with all the rules and requirements accepted in society? Probably not. And, perhaps, even often violate them. In such cases, they say that you have gone beyond. It's not always bad. In psychology, this unusual way of solving problems is called reframing. What is it and how can it be applied in life?

    Contents

    • Reframing - what it is
    • Applications
      • in psychology
      • in management
      • in Sales
      • In education
    • Types of reframing
    • Techniques
      • Six -step method
      • Cognitive
      • Logical
        • 9000
    • Exercises
      • I am too much
      • Black and white
      • Fight back
    • Examples of reframing from my life
    • Books on reframing
    • Conclusion

    Reframing - what it is

    Translated from English, the word "reframing" literally means "change the frame for the picture. " The “frame” in Neuro Linguistic Programming is how a person perceives information. It turns out that reframing in NLP is a change in thinking, perception of an event, rethinking, consideration from another side or perspective.

    In simple terms, reframing in psychology is a fairly effective method of influencing a person's orientation. It helps to cope with anxiety, stress and depression. And all thanks to the fact that a person looks at the traumatic psyche of the situation with a different look.

    Applications

    Reframing has found its way into many areas. First of all, it is psychology. It is also used in management, sales and education. Let's consider each item in more detail.

    In psychology

    Most often psychologists use the method during behavioral and positive psychotherapy. The main goal is to help a person change perception and gain new points of view. He needs to present his situation or problem, changing the “framework” for them. What does it give?

    1. Personality is being activated.
    2. Creative thinking is involved.
    3. Reduces emotional and psychological stress.

    Also, the neurotic form of behavior is replaced by an alternative one.

    In management

    In this area, reframing involves a shift in established rules and procedures. Its advantages are difficult to overestimate:

    1. Managers of different levels get the opportunity to implement effective management methods.
    2. Only the best specialists are involved in the work.
    3. Employees receive motivation for the highest quality performance of the tasks assigned to them.
    4. Unleashing corporate potential.

    And one more advantage: the employees of the company look at the work process in a new way. They develop a desire to grow and develop.

    In sales

    Reframing in sales is necessary for both buyers and sellers. For the latter, it helps to look at the product from a different point of view and motivate oneself for the achievements associated with its implementation.

    There are 2 types of reframing used in sales. The first involves focusing on benefits. For example, if a product is not on sale, the salesperson might mention the fact that their store has the lowest prices on the product.

    The second type - using additional alternative questions. The seller focuses on the positive qualities and properties of the goods. Let's say a person wants to buy a phone of a certain brand. The seller can offer him a device of another company, but with more functions and at a lower price. The quality remains at the same level.

    In education

    Reframing has been used in education relatively recently. This means that the teacher should present the material in different ways. Imagine a child who doesn't like chemistry. How can he instill a love for this science? A good option is to visit the Science Museum with him. Entertaining experiments are unlikely to leave him indifferent. Therefore, he will go to the next lesson more willingly.

    Types of reframing

    Reframing involves the use of speech. It is with words that you can change a person’s opinion about himself and his qualities, his view of the current situation.

    In psychology, there are 2 types of this technique:

    1. Context reframing. It helps to take a different look at the behavior, situation, object by giving them a new meaning. For example, one might consider where undesirable actions might become acceptable. And vice versa. Take such unpleasant qualities as laziness and greed. Change the "frame" and turn them into practicality and frugality, respectively.
    2. Content reframing. The statement takes on new meaning by focusing attention on another part of the content. The effectiveness of the reception depends on what the essence of the problem is. Let's return to the qualities mentioned above. Greed helps to save the right amount for a large purchase. Laziness will help not to strain once again, but to live for your own pleasure.

    This division into types is conditional. Any statement or event can be viewed from the perspective of both reframing.

    Techniques

    There are only 7 reframing techniques. Each of them has its purpose and features.

    Six Step Method

    What is it? As the name suggests, this is a 6-part reframing technique:

    1. The first step is to identify and articulate the problem. Designate it with a number, letter or any color.
    2. Start a conversation with the part of the subconscious that is responsible for the problem. Decide exactly what you want to know. Are simple answers sufficient for you, such as "yes" or "no"? Or do you want more information?
    3. Here you also need to refer to the same part of the subconscious as in the previous paragraph. Ask her a question about the purpose of her behavior. Find out what she wants to achieve in this way. Try to suggest solving the problem in a different way. If the subconscious mind agrees, look for options. If you disagree, consider how positive his intentions are.
    4. The creative part of the subconscious is connected to the dialogue. From the one responsible for the problem, she should receive a message of positive intent. After that, she must propose 3 new forms of behavior and inform her “colleague” about this.
    5. Now you need to conclude an agreement between the two parts of the subconscious. The one that controls the behavior that is unpleasant or undesirable for you, you need to ask her opinion on the proposed options. If she agrees with them, you can act. If not, you should suggest returning to the old methods, but before that, try the new ones anyway.
    6. The last step is to find enemies and allies. You need to find out from the control part of the subconscious whether any other elements of your personality want to become participants in the experiment. Perhaps someone will be categorically against them. This also needs to be found out.

    This unusual reframing technique helps you develop more productive behavior, see new opportunities, reevaluate events, and stop worrying.

    Cognitive

    Using cognitive reframing, you can change your view of negative events. You will either look at them from a different perspective, or start treating them positively.

    People often exaggerate, as they say, “make an elephant out of a fly”. You can change the situation if you learn to find something good even in unpleasant situations. The main thing is not to engage in self-abasement. It is better to look for hidden resources in yourself, analyze what happened and move on. Despondency can easily lead you astray. Therefore, remember that the black stripe will definitely change to white. This is the law.

    Aggressive

    First you have to remember what makes you aggressive. Try to stop her. Let's take an example. Let's say you get thrown off balance when co-workers try to teach you something. Think of it as a free refresher course. If new, inexperienced employees make you angry, treat them like little children. Give them lessons. Sooner or later they will realize their value.

    Remember that anger will not help you solve a problem. Therefore, it is better to change your attitude towards her.
    We can say that this is reframing in mediation or a way to reconcile conflicting parties.

    Logical

    Here you have to use logical thinking. Do not engage in substitution of concepts. Give them a positive explanation. An example of such reframing in psychology is the attitude towards frequent business trips. Perhaps you are terribly tired of them. But just think about how many books you managed to read on the road. Another plus is the frequent change of scenery, which has a beneficial effect on your psyche. In addition, at least for a few days you are freed from doing household chores.

    Positive

    Positive reframing helps you become optimistic, find the meaning of life and find the purpose of existence. In contrast to the logical technique, concepts can be changed here. For example, you may consider a problem an opportunity to change something, to become better, to learn something.
    Psychologists recommend replacing unpleasant expressions with more positive ones. Don't say you should. Say you want to do it. You don't expect, but you know for sure.

    Method of negative qualities

    Problems are not always a coincidence. Often they are a consequence of the fact that it is difficult for a person to overcome some character traits, habits or addictions. To remedy the situation, you need to look at them differently. The process is called reframing negative qualities.

    For example, you consider yourself a dry and callous person. But think about it, maybe you just express your love and feelings differently than everyone else? Let's say you fulfilled a child's dream by buying him a toy that he had long dreamed of. Or they took the family on a long-awaited and planned vacation. Keeping your promises is much more important than expressing your feelings violently.

    Organizations

    With this type of reframing, you will have to prove the correctness of your point of view in front of the team. You need to collect such words and phrases that will make even the most malicious enemies your allies. In your speech, talk about the benefits of change. And only after that you can mention the action plan and possible difficulties.

    Exercises

    There are many ways to reframe. Simple exercises will help them learn.

    I am too

    This reframing exercise can be done at home. Take a blank sheet of paper, write down on it 5 of your most unpleasant qualities. Begin each sentence with the words "I am too."

    Next to each entry, write how the quality will change if you look at it from the other side.

    For example, you wrote that you are too serious. But maybe you are just an ambitious and purposeful person who always achieves what he wants? Or, let's say you consider yourself a capricious person. Consider this demanding of yourself and others.

    Black and white

    You can also do this exercise on your own. But it is still better to assemble a group of several people.

    So, each participant needs to come up with a compliment to the person who was assigned a negative trait. Here the bore turns into a person who is not led to temptations and confidently goes to the goal. Or an arrogant person becomes someone who knows his own worth.

    Fight Back

    This reframing exercise is done with at least two people. One participant says something offensive to another. The second needs to quickly rebuff these words. For example, a woman was called fat. She parries the blow with the statement that many men like curvaceous.

    Examples of reframing from my life

    There have been many such examples of reframing in my life. For example, I worked at the same workplace for 5 years. Many of my friends, unlike me, during this time managed to move well up the career ladder. Do you know why it didn't upset me? I have found many positives in my work. This is a very convenient schedule, allowing you to rest 2 weeks every month. No overwork and the need to take additional tasks to take home.

    There is another example. My immediate supervisor (she was a very self-confident woman) constantly taught us something. She made many remarks, most of which were completely out of place. Of course, it pissed me off. At some point, I decided to look at this situation from a different angle, as advised by the reframing technique. I imagined that she just wanted to teach me something useful that would eventually benefit not only her business, but also me personally.

    Books on reframing

    The most popular publications are:

    1. Reframing: Personality Orientation Using Speech Strategies by Richard Bandler and John Grinder.
    2. Reframing Organizations. Artistry, Choice and Leadership, Lee D. Bolman, Terrence E. Deal.
    3. NLP Reframing. How to change reality in your favor "

    These books explain what reframing is and how it can be applied in different areas of your life. The authors also tell what reframing techniques will help to cope with crisis situations.

    Conclusion

    Reframing is a way of perceiving information that helps to change one's point of view, look at an object or phenomenon positively. Every person needs to master this technique. Imagine how much easier your life will be if you learn to see something good even in bad situations.

    Reframing errors. Self-Esteem [Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques to Improve and Maintain Your Self-Esteem [litres]

    Reframing means changing your interpretation or point of view. You put a picture or an event in a new frame in order to change your view of it and thus change its meaning for you. For example, when you wake up from a nightmare, your heart is pounding. You are really scared, you believe that you are falling or that you are being followed. When you realize that it was just a dream, you feel a surge of relief. Your heart is no longer pounding, you are calming down. Your mind has reframed the experience, changing its meaning from "I'm in danger" to "It was just a dream." Your body and mood follow your mind. To reframe mistakes is to learn to think about them in a way that removes their nightmarish qualities. Instead, you view your mistakes as a natural and even valuable component of life. In turn, this new perspective allows you to react more flexibly when you make a mistake or learn and move on.

    Mistakes as a teacher

    Mistakes are a function of the growth and change of awareness and are a prerequisite for any learning process. Last year you bought cheap paint thinking it would work. This year you are a different person, a year older and wiser as you watch the paint fade. You are different because of the information that was not there a year ago. There is no point in hurting your self-esteem by lashing out at yourself for not being able to foresee the future back then. Take it as an experience, go and buy quality paint. One time you can pay for the lesson, but only once. Attacking yourself is like paying twice: the first time for new paint, the second time when you are robbed by your critic.

    It is impossible to complete a task or learn a skill without ever making a mistake. This process is called successive approximation : getting closer and closer to success using the feedback that errors give. Each of them tells you what needs to be corrected, with each one you gradually approach the behavioral sequence that will work best for the task. Instead of being afraid of mistakes, in the learning process you need to welcome them. People who can't stand mistakes have learning problems. They are afraid to go to a new job because they will face new procedures and challenges. They are afraid to try a new sport because of all the misses they will have to make before their body learns how to properly swing a racquet or use a sports wedge. They won't sign up for a cooking class or try to fix a carburetor. Due to the inevitable mistakes, doing something new is always painful.

    Putting mistakes in a new frame, marking them as needed feedback, helps you relax and focus on gradually completing a new task. Errors are information about what works and what doesn't. They have nothing to do with your level of intelligence. They are just steps towards the goal.

    Errors as warnings

    The dream of perfection turns mistakes from warnings into sins. Errors can function like a chime on your typewriter that you're about to leave the margins of a page, or like a seat belt in a car. If you have a minor accident, this may serve as a warning to concentrate on driving. If you get a D grade in any subject at school, this will be a warning that you need to study harder. A serious conflict over a small thing between you and a friend warns that you are not discussing some other problem behind it. But perfectionism changes a warning into an indictment. And you get so busy justifying yourself to an attacking critic that you no longer have the opportunity to heed the lesson that the error brings. You can fight perfectionism by focusing more on prevention than on your fault.

    Mistakes as a condition for spontaneity

    Fear of mistakes kills your right to self-expression. It makes you afraid of your spontaneous "I", to say what you think and feel. If you never allow yourself to say the wrong thing, you will never feel free enough to say the right thing: that you love someone or that you are hurt and want comfort. The dream of perfection makes you stifle all this, because you have no right to take a wrong step, or to feel too much.

    Willingness to make mistakes means that it is normal to disappoint people, experience moments of awkwardness, let the conversation turn to an unpleasant topic. Consider the case of Andrea. At work, she communicates with only two people, because any new relationship is too unpredictable. Suppose the new person doesn't like her jokes or finds some of her remarks stupid. She would have to watch her words carefully. Andrea's situation shows how fear of making mistakes can:

    1) isolate you because you are afraid of the new person's opinion;

    2) stifle spontaneity, because you have to be vigilant about what you say.

    Errors: required quota

    Leave error quota. Some people have a pathological attitude towards mistakes: they believe that they should be avoided, that competent and worthy people do not make them.

    Such paralyzing nonsense can make you afraid to take advantage of any chance in life. The common sense is that everyone deserves a quota of errors. You have a right to a certain amount of social missteps, work failures, bad decisions, missed opportunities, and even broken relationships. Now is a good time to start thinking about a reasonable quota for errors, rather than dreaming about unattainable perfection. For most people, a simple rule of thumb is that one to three solutions in every ten are completely wrong. And several others may be in the gray area of ​​doubt. For mechanized, learned processes like typing or driving a car, the error quota will be lower. You don't expect an accident every tenth time you get into a car. But sooner or later it will happen, it's good if only the wing is touched, and you will have to write it down for yourself as a mistake, which you are entitled to according to the quota.

    Errors not present in the present

    To understand what this means, it is useful to start by looking at the most common error categories:

    1. Actual errors. You hear "highway 45" on the phone, write down "highway 49" and then you get lost.

    2. Failure to achieve the goal. Summer is coming and you are still too fat to wear your bathing suit.

    3. Wasted effort. You collect 300 signatures for a petition, but it does not lead to a result.

    4. Errors of judgment. You decide to buy paint cheaper and it fades.

    5. Missed opportunities. The shares you chose not to buy at $5 are now worth $30.

    6. Forgetfulness. You were about to join a friendly clubbing dinner, went all the way, and then found that the salad dressing was left at home in the refrigerator.

    7. Excessive self-indulgence in permitted things.

    The party was fun, but today you have a hangover.

    8. Inappropriate emotional outbursts. You yell at your wife and later regret it terribly.

    9. Procrastination. You never got around to fixing the roof, and the wallpaper in the dining room is damaged as a result.

    10. Impatience. You take a bigger wrench to tighten a nut, and as a result, the lock breaks.

    11. Violation of your moral code. You tell a harmless lie: "I'm leaving town this weekend." On Saturday, you bump into the very person you've been avoiding.

    This list is endless. Classifying ways to go wrong has been a popular human pastime ever since Moses came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments.

    In all these examples, there is one trend that will help us understand the errors. An error is something that, after thinking about it, you would like to do differently. This also applies to things not done, if you later, on reflection, regret that you didn't do them.

    The key word here is "subsequently". It can be separated from action by a second or a decade. When you overtighten the nut and the lock breaks, this moment really comes very quickly. It seems like it's the same as "immediately", but it really isn't. There is a gap between action and regret. The time of this gap, whether brief or long, is the key to your release from wiping out mistakes. It is at the moment of action that you do what seems reasonable. It is your subsequent interpretation that makes this action a mistake.

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