1. Ask yourself, "What's the
worst that can happen?"
There's a simple three-step
technique that can help when you're besieged by personal or professional
worries.
First, ask yourself what's the worst
that could possibly happen. Second, prepare to accept the worst. Finally,
figure out how to improve upon the worst, should it come to pass.
This technique is based on an
anecdote from Willis Carrier, founder of the modern air-conditioning industry.
While working for the Buffalo Forge Company as a young man, Carrier found that
a new gas-cleaning service his company provided wasn't as effective as he'd
hoped.
Carrier realized that the worst that
could happen was that his company would lose $20,000. He then accepted it: The
company could qualify the loss as the cost of researching a new strategy.
Finally, he figured out how to improve the situation: If the company bought
$5,000 worth of new equipment, they could resolve the issue. Ultimately, that's
exactly what they did, and they ended up making $15,000.
2. Gather all the facts in an
objective way.
As Herbert E. Hawkes, former dean of
Columbia College, told Carnegie, "If a man will devote his time to
securing facts in an impartial, objective way, his worries will usually
evaporate in light of knowledge."
Carnegie offers two ways to go about
collecting facts objectively. You can pretend that you're gathering this data
for someone else, so you're less emotionally invested in what you find.
Or you can pretend that you're a
lawyer who is preparing to argue the other side of the issue — so you gather
all the facts against yourself. Write down the facts on both sides of the case
and you'll generally get a clearer picture of the truth.
Francisco Osorio/Flickr Before you present a
problem to your coworkers, try writing down potential solutions on your own.
3. Generate potential solutions to
the problem.
Leon Shimkin, then general manager
at Simon and Schuster (he later became the owner), figured out a way to cut the
time he spent in meetings by 75%.
He told his associates that every
time they wanted to present a problem at a meeting, they had to first submit a
memorandum answering four questions: What is the problem? What is the cause of
the problem? What are all possible solutions of the problem? What solution do
you suggest?
According to Shimkin, once he
instituted this new system, his associates rarely came to him with their
concerns.
"They have discovered that in
order to answer those four questions they have to get all the facts and think
their problems through," he told Carnegie. Once they did that, they
typically found that "the proper solution has popped out like a piece of
bread popping out from an electric toaster."
In other words, action replaced
worrying and talking.
4. Remember the law of averages.
The law of averages refers to the
probability of a specific event occurring — and you should consult the law to
find out if it's worth fretting. Chances are good that whatever you're worried
about isn't likely to transpire.
Carnegie writes that the US Navy
employed the law of averages in order to boost sailors' morale. Sailors who
were assigned to high-octane tankers were initially worried that they would be
blown up when the tank exploded. So the Navy provided them with exact figures: Of
the 100 tanks that were hit by torpedoes, 60 stayed afloat and only
five sank in less than 10 minutes, leaving time to get off the ship.
5. Place stop-loss orders on your
worries.
This strategy is based on a
principle in stock trading. One investor said he set a stop-loss order on every
market commitment he made. Here's how it works: Say you buy a stock that sells
for 100 dollars a share and set a stop-loss order for 90 dollars a share. As
soon as that stock dips to 90 dollars a share, you sell it — no questions
asked.
You can use this principle in
everyday life. For example, Carnegie once wanted to be a novelist, but after
two years of toiling away without much success, he decided to cut his losses
and go back to teaching and nonfiction writing.
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