I cannot tell you the amount of sleep and peace I have lost because of worry. I have worried about my job, my business, my family, my girlfriend, my dog , my car, my health, you name it. No matter what I did I could not stop worrying about STUPID things. And believe me most of it was stupid. Well like I always do I started to look for ways to rid myself of this nasty mind ridden infection. I found a book written by none other than Dale Carnegie called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. This book has helped me as well as my girlfriend with several things we used to worry about. We are surely on the way to eliminating most of the worry from our life. Now I will share some of the information I found helpful from the book so that you too can begin the journey to a worry free life.
1. Write it Down – Define the Problem
How exactly do you know what you are worrying about until you write it down? I used to think that all I had to do was think a problem out and it would come to me on how to fix it. This was so far from the truth it was sick. When I started writing the problems down they began to appear clear and defined for me. I was actually able to look at the problem for what it was instead of what I thought it was. Your mind creates so much mess that you can rarely sift through what is real and what is not. That is why after writing something down I soon found myself in progress mode looking for the RIGHT solution. So in the future make sure you write your problems down. This will eliminate a lot of worry and allow you to see what’s really going on. (Use the next step to jump start this process.)
2. Ask Yourself Two Questions
What am I really worried about?AndWhat can I do to fix this problem?This step ties directly into the first one. Write your problem down and then go from there stating what can be done to fix it. If you write down all the solutions to a problem you will be surprised at the options you have before you. When you look at your problems in this way you will actually see how small they are. You will sometimes smack yourself for letting your mind dwell upon these situations. All you have to do is write them down and the rest will open itself up to you.
3. Live in a Day Tight Compartment
Living in a day tight compartment is exactly what it says. Do not focus on tomorrow or yesterday but instead on TODAY. Shut everything else out and do what you can today. There is nothing you can do about yesterday and tomorrow is uncertain. After doing this you will also be amazed at what gets done. Chores, homework, business, you name it, it gets done sooner. This also helps to rid your self of the procrastination flu, which we will talk about in a later post. But for now just deal with the only thing you have power over: TODAY.
4. Keep Yourself Busy
Did you know that your mind can only focus on one thought at a time? So whether you think of something positive or negative is entirely up to you. One way to make sure you keep the negative junk out of your head is to keep busy. The simple act of doing something to keep your mind occupied has been proven over and over again. One instance I remember was a man that lost two of his three children in a car accident. He thought that he would never be able to live with the pain of loosing his two children until his last remaining son came up to him and asked if he would help him build a kite. Despite the fathers lack of interest he gave in and helped his son build the kite. Surprising to him he noticed that with keeping his mind focused on building the kite nothing else crept in. He soon went around the house and was looking for stuff to do to keep himself busy and his mind free from anger and guilt. My point is when ever you find that you cannot get something out of your mind, venture off and find something to do. It works trust me, I use it all the time.
5. Cooperate With Life
Let’s face it. There are some things that we can deal with and others we cannot. When problem arise make sure it is something worth worrying about. If you look outside tomorrow and it is raining, let it be. There is nothing on this green earth that will allow you to stop the rain. Just cooperate and look at it positively. If tomorrow you find out that gas has gone up again to $70.00 a gallon, don’t worry. What will worrying about it take care of? Yes it sucks that gas is so high but do you know who you can talk to to lower it? More than likely not. Just ride your bike to work and fir that long needed exercise you have been putting off. Cooperate with the things you can change and use the previous four steps to deal with the things you can. Odds are you will soon see some long needed changes that have been way overdue.
