Worry Yourself to a Perfect Outcome

Do you know you could be consciously worrying yourself into bankruptcy? Or ill health? Or an unhappy family life? Or even worse?

18th Century British statesman, Charles James Fox, was notorious for his support of the French Revolution (that is, until it became clear that Napoleon was planning to invade Britain), his passion for gambling, his dissolute lifestyle – and his sharp wit.

A chronic debtor, Fox was once reprimanded by his father, who deemed it a wonder that he could sleep soundly or enjoy his life while plagued with financial troubles. “Your lordship need not be surprised,” Fox calmly replied to his father. “You should rather be astonished that my creditors can sleep!”

While not advocating such an irresponsible approach, there is nevertheless something useful one can learn from Charles James Fox’s attitude. Psychologists have long known that the single most harmful, most debilitating emotion to the human psyche is Fear.

Fear of failure, fear of death, fear of sickness, fear of loneliness, fear of financial difficulties, fear of making a fool of oneself . . . fear, fear, fear is one of the most widespread causes of all psychosomatic, as well as many physical illnesses known to modern medicine.

Worry is just another type of fear. Worry is the fear that you may have something to fear. It is a down payment, a “lay-by” of fear, regarding something that may or may not happen sometime in your future.

And each time you worry about an event or outcome, you’re making another down payment on that future event or outcome. Unfortunately, there is a serious consequence whenever you do this.

Whenever you make a down payment, or pay lay-by instalments of money on something you want, you create a clear, positive expectation and mental image of you actually receiving what you are paying for. That goes without saying. In effect, you see each successive payment bringing the thing you want closer to you.

Worry works in exactly the same way, with exactly the same result. Whenever you make a down payment or pay lay-by installments of worry on something you don’t want, you create a clear, positive expectation and mental image of actually receiving what you are paying for.

Only here, each successive payment attracts the very thing you do not want to you. The more you worry about something you fear, the more you are actually attracting it to you and increasing the chance of it happening. So, what should one do about it?

In any situation that might give rise to worry, you will always have two choices. Either you can do something to fix it right now … or you can’t. If you can do something to fix it, don’t waste time and energy worrying about it – do something to fix it! If you can’t do something to fix it right now, no amount of worrying or lying awake at night is going to help, or change that.

Many people feel if they are not worrying about a problem, they are not taking it seriously enough. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Worrying about it is without doubt the least effective, most counter-productive and destructive thing you can possibly do.

Worry achieves less than nothing. It saps your energy and motivation, it keeps you awake at night, causing sleep deprivation, which always make things look far more black than they are, and it prevents you from opening yourself to any workable solutions.

One of the most powerful things you can do, instead of worrying impotently, is to use the identical process of worrying to solve and eliminate the problem – thus eliminating any need to worry.

And it’s not that difficult.

All you need do is to first carefully analyse exactly what you are worried about so you really understand the problem and can clearly visualize it. Next, create a clear mental picture of the most perfect, ideal outcome to that problem … an outcome that would create the happiest, most positive possible result.

And now – “worry” about that ideal result!

When you worry out of fear, you constantly hold a fixed image in your mind of the terrible thing you are dreading may happen. You nurture it. You daydream about it. You lie awake at night thinking about it, afraid of it. You dwell on it constantly, seeing it clearly happening in your imagination,

Now do exactly the same – but with your perfect outcome replacing the scary outcome. The process is exactly the same. Only the picture is different. Both possibilities are somewhere in your future. Neither is real, because neither has happened yet.

It is entirely in your power to influence which outcome you choose to bring into your reality.

As soon as you have this ideal, happy image clearly sorted out in your mind, the rest is easy – but you have to remain mentally vigilant. From now on, every single time you find yourself worrying hopelessly about any issue, immediately replace that worry with a clear picture of the same issue with a perfect outcome – and then consciously hold the picture of that perfect outcome in your mind.

See yourself and your family, partners or colleagues laughing in delight, rejoicing, toasting each other, thrilled to bits at that perfect outcome. You will bring it into your reality – often quicker than you dare hope. So, worry your way to success – not failure.

And the very best part is – you do not even have to “believe in it.” It will work – whether you believe in it or not. Like Nike, You just have to do it!