Dale Carnegie’s Time-Tested Methods For Conquering Worry
Part One
Fundamental Facts You Should Know About Worry
Rule 1: You want to avoid worry, do what sir William Osler Did: Live in “Day-Tight Compartments.” Don’t stew about the future. Just live each day until bed-time.
Rule 2: The next Time Trouble-With a Capital T– Backs you up in a corner, try the magic formula of Willis H. Carrier:
a. Ask yourself, “What is the worst that can possibly happen if I can’t solve my problem?”
b. Prepare yourself mentally to accept the worst-if necessary.
c. Then calmly try to improve upon the worst-which you have already mentally agreed to accept.
Rule 3: Remind yourself of the exorbitant price you can pay for worry in terms of your health. “Those who do not know how to fight worry die young”.
Part Two
Basic Techniques in Analyzing Worry
Rule 1: Get the facts. Remember that Dean Hawkes of Columbia University said that “Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge of which to base a decision.”
Rule 2: After Carefully weighing all the facts, come to a decision.
Rule 3: Once a decision is carefully reached, act! Get busy carrying out your decision-and dismiss all anxiety about the outcome.
Rule 4: When you, or any of your associates, are tempted to worry about a problem, write out and answer the following questions.
a. What is the problem?
b. What is the cause of the problem?
c. What are all the possible solutions?
d. What is the best solution?
Part Three
How to Break the Worry Habit Before it Breaks You
Rule 1: Crowd worry out of your mind by keeping busy. Plenty of action is the one of the best therapies ever devised for curing “Wibber Gibbers”
Rule 2: Don’t fuss about triples. Don’t permit little things-the mere termites of life-to ruin your happiness.
Rule 3: Use the law of averages to outlaw your worries. Ask yourself: “What are the odds against this thing happening at all?”
Rule 4: Cooperate with the inevitable. If you know a circumstance is beyond your power to change or revise, say to yourself: “It is so; it cannot be otherwise.”
Rule 5: Put a “Stop-Loss” order on your worries. Decide just how much anxiety a thing may be worth-and refuse to give it anymore.
Rule 6: Let the past bury its dead. Don’t saw sawdust.