Catastrophizing Cascade
One negative signal triggers an imagined chain of consequences ending in ruin; the chain feels like foresight and drives decisions sized to the fantasy rather than the fact.
An everyday example
A delayed payment becomes, in ten minutes, insolvency, layoffs and public failure — and a panicked discount to prevent all of it.
What it can cost you
Over-reacting to small signals; being sold protection against imagined chains.
Warning signs
- I am several steps ahead into disaster.
- The fear is about the last link, not the first.
One thing to do
Write the chain down and assign each link a probability; multiply them; decide on the product.
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