Say Good Bye to your worries — The Magic Formula
Recently, I have been reading this book — Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie. In this, the author has presented a magic formula of 3 steps to curb any worry situations.
But before we jump onto what are those 3 steps, let us first understand why is worrying harmful for our being. Worrying masks our judgement of the situation and impedes our thinking abilities. We keep going inside the never ending loop of worry, sometimes inflicting pain upon ourselves, without being able to think clearly. It doesn’t do anything productive and even in case of minor issues, we succumb.
My Story
Trust me when I say this:
While reading this book, I did one experiment with myself. I was “worried” about my promotion at job. Whether my manager sees me as someone who is able to lead the entire project end to end? Oh I don’t think I came out well in that last project. I didn’t project the leader side of me quite well enough and for that reason I think my manager won’t be approving my promotion. I literally had sleepless nights, stomach aches and what not. I was too “worried” about the health issues which had started to pop up.
I have recently developed this habit of reading books daily with consistency and I had just finished my book and was looking for my next book. Just about time, one well wisher of mine suggested me this book and things haven’t been the same since then. I applied the magic formula that this book talks about and all that worry about my promotion and subsequently my health issues seem to have all gone away. I have become more calm and happier in my life. I have got a new lens with which I now see and analyse worrying life situations like a boss 😎
Magic Formula
Anytime, you are posed with a worrying situation, just apply this formula of 3 steps in your situation and you’ll surely be out this phase and feel a lot more calm and at peace.
- Ask yourself what is the worst that can possibly happen in this situation.
- Prepare to accept it if you have to
- Now, calmly proceed in your life improving on the worst
Now, let us discuss these three points one at a time
Step I — What is the worst that can possibly happen
Let’s say the thing that is worrying you, actually happened. What is the worst that can happen with you in this situation. May be you will lose a good amount of money or may be you will be out of job, or may be your family will not accept you for who you are or may be DEATH. It can be anything. The notorious devil, as worry is, won’t let you think judiciously. Just for a moment, calm down, have control of your life and take this first step. Talk to yourself. Analyse the gravity of the situation, pondering upon how does the finish line look like if this event that is worrying me had actually taken place.
Step II — Prepare to accept
Whatever you thought of in Step I, own it, accept it. Whatever worst you think can happen, assume that it happened with you, at least in your head. So, let’s say I am out of my job, I start thinking about what expertise do I have and which companies would be willing to hire me. Let’s say I am going to be ousted by my landlord. I start thinking as to where can I find a place to dump my extra luggage and start looking for a friend to take me in for a couple of days.
In short, accept yourself in the worst of the situations that can happen and try to think what can be done to survive in it. I guarantee you that at the end of Step II, you will definitely feel more confident. The blue funk that you have been in for these days and nights, will begin to lift up and to your astonishment, you will be able to THINK.
Step III — Improve on the worst
Now that you have your brain horses running, you will also be able to think of an approach or a solution to minimise the loss or to improve upon the worst situation that you calculated in Step I. This is just so well devised. You follow Step I, Step II and now as you become more clearheaded and you are feeling better, you will be better suited to think of a way to lessen your damages. You will be able to look at the solution from a different angle and the right solution will pose itself in your thoughts plane. The solution can be as simple as calling your parents.
But, why didn’t you think of it earlier?
It’s because you weren’t thinking, just worrying.
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