How to Stop Worrying

One of the most stressful aspects of managing your life, job or business is SURPRISES.

For example, you are going along, believing everything is fine, then WHAM! Your son gets arrested. Your neighbor cuts down your tree. Your car is stolen.

Any job can include surprising catastrophes. You get demoted or transferred. Your co-worker falsely accuses you of theft. Your boss screams at you.

Management surprises can be the most stressful of all. A key employee suddenly quits. A government agent walks in to do an inspection. Some crazy guy screams at your receptionist and won't leave.

Odds are good you will get hit with several surprises in your life. As a result, your forward progress can be stopped. Your production can be blocked. Your success can be ruined.

Even worse, the more successful you are, or the bigger your business becomes, the more often you might be hit with surprises.
Bad Solutions

You might be so afraid of catastrophes that you take them too seriously. You decide to stop succeeding. To earn less money. To be less aggressive, less intense or less passionate.

You believe that if you are small and insignificant, people will leave you alone. Of course, they just hunt you down.

Another bad approach is to get upset when a catastrophe occurs. You act like a victim or a coward. Yet this often makes the problem even worse. You do and say the wrong things and get hit with more surprises.

Getting numb is another bad idea. You might want to use drugs or alcohol to deaden your feelings. You try to turn off the world. But this also hurts your success as you need to clearly perceive the world around you if you wish to succeed.

Constantly worrying about surprises is another bad solution as it makes life miserable. Instead of focusing on opportunities and good results, you worry. You spend too much time thinking about problems and potential catastrophes that might happen to you.

Luckily, you can reduce your stress and worry with a little planning.
Surprise Insurance

"A catastrophe occurs by lack of prediction of a possible circumstance. Those things planned for do not become catastrophes." -- L. Ron Hubbard
Your best insurance is to predict and plan for catastrophes IN ADVANCE. Once you have a plan for handling every conceivable surprise, you can relax.

For example, you are worried you'll be in trouble with your boss because you would not wash his wife's car. You plan a positive response. "I hope I didn't offend your wife, but knew I should check with you before stopping my work to wash her car." Because you are prepared, you stop worrying. The boss never says anything about it.

When you have a plan for a disaster, you are ready for it. Instead of reacting to the problem, while upset and prone to making mistakes, you take command of the situation. You resolve it with your plan. Your prosperity continues.

For example, as a boss, you learn a former employee is suing you. If you planned for this possibility in advance, you would know exactly what to do. Your paperwork would be filed and organized. Your lawyer would send a copy of your paperwork to the employee's attorney. The employee's attorney would see you had done everything right and drop the case.

As another example, you can't sleep because you MUST get to work on time to give a presentation. So instead of tossing and turning in your bed, you turn on the lights. You write down every reason you might be late. You plan how to handle each. You set two alarm clocks and a wind-up alarm in case the power goes out. You figure out another way to get to work in case your car won't start. You lay out your clothes and set up your coffee maker. You are now prepared! You get in bed and instantly fall asleep.

The same principle works on a personal level. For example, Joe is worried his wife will be angry when she finds out he quit his job. He works out the best way to explain it to her so she can understand his reasons. Joe stops worrying and drives home. When he first gives her the news, he is ready for a bad reaction, but she is fine. Because he planned for a catastrophe, it does not happen.
Recommendation

Make a list of all the catastrophes you expect may happen to you. Include everything that makes you worry. Small things, big things, anything you can think of.

Next to each item on your list, write up a plan to handle it. Some potential catastrophes require a single preparation stop. Others need a detailed, 20-step plan.

As you do this exercise, you may feel uncomfortable and nervous. Just keep working on it. As you plan out more solutions and get prepared, you will feel more relaxed and confident than ever before. You become ready for anything!

After you finish, you will probably think of more things to add to your list. So keep it handy.

In fact, each time you feel stressed or worried about a potential problem, add the potential surprise to your list. If it's already on the list, simply add more preparation steps until you are no longer worried.

Review the list every few months. When you review old solutions, you think of new preventive steps and better solutions.
Biggest Benefit

"A catastrophe occurs by lack of prediction of a possible circumstance. Those things planned for do not become catastrophes." -- L. Ron Hubbard
That's right! Because you have planned for these surprises, they won't happen to you.

Give it a try!