Whenever you find yourself worried about anything, ask yourself the action question: “What can I do about this issue right now?”
Then do something right away. Whatever happens. any little thing.
For most of my life, I’ve spent my time asking myself the wrong questions every time I was worried. I always ask myself, “What should I think about this?” I asked. Fortunately, I was finally able to discover that I was much happier when I instead asked the right question: “What can I do about it?”
One day, I came up with an action system that completely changed my habit of worrying. I was putting together a list of five issues I was worried about. Of these, four, for example, were work-related projects, and the fifth could have been a problem with any of my son’s teachers. Then I would spend five minutes on each of these topics to find something I could do, whatever it was. So I spent a total of twenty-five minutes on all the issues I was concerned about, doing something for each. I was never wasting more time. As such, none of them clung to my whole day.
Then I managed to make a game out of it. The first project on the list was to prepare a seminar workbook for a new training course, which had to be timed to catch up. I was spending five minutes writing that book to prepare. Maybe this time was enough for me to write two pages at most, but it gave me great relief. Because I saw that I was finally starting to do that job. Then I would move on to worry number two; to a meeting with a client about a troubled contract. I was calling my client, determining an appointment date and time over the phone and taking notes on my agenda. That sounded good too. My third concern was the pile of letters I had to answer. I was pulling out what I was going to answer in five minutes in the replies pile, preparing my letters and adding them to my “finished basket”. This gave a sense of satisfaction. Fourth, it was an itinerary to work on. I was leaving a voicemail on the answering machine asking my travel agent to look at my schedule and fax me about the options they could suggest about the trip.
Finally, I was going to talk about my son. I would pull a blank sheet of paper in front of me and write a short letter to my son’s teacher, expressing my concern about my son and expressing my support for what his teacher was doing for him, suggesting that the three of us get together and agree on some issues as soon as possible.
All this in just twenty-five minutes. Thus, the five issues that worried me the most were no longer a concern. Then I would go back to the beginning and continue my work from where I left off to finalize each one.
If there is something that worries you, you should definitely do something about it. It doesn’t have to be big enough to completely eliminate that worry; as long as it has anything to do with that problem. No matter how small you do, you will find that it will have a huge impact on you. Because you will have succeeded in doing something.
In the future, when you’re going to worry about anything, ask yourself, “What is the smallest thing I can do about it right now?” Then do what you think. But never think of asking the question, “What can I do that can help me get rid of this problem completely?” Because this question can’t get you to take any action at all.
Addressing your concerns with action will free you up to focus your attention elsewhere. It will remove fear and uncertainty from your life and give you the power to create again what you want.
Steve Chandler – “100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever”
