Throughout this book we’ll be illustrating how it’s our Bs (beliefs) that largely cause the stressful Cs (consequences), not necessarily the actual situation itself. So, if someone isn’t stressed about meeting important deadlines, giving a presentation or meeting new people it’s because they believe they’ll cope well and therefore don’t predict any awful consequences. The fact that they’re not stressed in this way can then become a self-fulfilling prophecy, in that it will cause them to behave and react in positive ways which might actually make a successful outcome more likely. When we hold overly negative beliefs the opposite can happen.