Worry

Worry has been described as "interest paid on trouble before it comes due." One of America's worst enemies is worry. Worry is like a rocking chair; it requires a lot of energy, and it gets you nowhere. Leo Buscaglia said, "Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."
Question: Are you a worrier? Americans take more pills to forget more worries about more things than ever before and more than people in any other nation in history. That's bad. According to Dr. Charles Mayo, "Worry affects the circulation and the whole nervous system. I've never known a man who died from overwork, but I've known many who have died from doubt." Doubt always creates worry, and in most cases, lack of information raises the doubt.
Life is much like Christmas. You're more apt to get what you expect than what you want.
Mathematically speaking, it really doesn't make sense to worry. Psychologists and other researchers tell us that roughly 40 percent of what we worry about will never happen and 30 percent has already happened. Additionally, 12 percent of our worries are over unfounded health concerns. Another 10 percent of our worries involve the daily miscellaneous fretting that accomplishes nothing. That leaves only 8 percent. Plainly speaking, we are worrying 92 percent of the time for no good reason, and if Dr. Mayo is right, it's killing us.
One solution that will reduce your worry is this: Don't worry about what you can't change. Example: For a number of years I've flown in excess of 200,000 miles a year. On occasion, flights are canceled or delayed. As I write this, I'm sitting on the runway waiting for my gate to clear. If I worry or get angry, nothing will change. If I take constructive action and finish this article, I'm ahead of the game. That's a positive way to use the energy that I would have wasted on anger, frustration, or worrying.
The message is clear: If you don't like your situation in life, don't fret or worry--do something about it. Worry less, and act more.

CRASH COURSE

If you want to make maximum use of your time, try the CRASH course in time management:

Consider
Release
Arrange
Schedule
Hold
Briefly, here's what the CRASH course entails.

Consider what it is you really want to accomplish in life. Determine what is really important and what is absolutely necessary.

Release everything that is trivial, unnecessary or relatively unimportant. You could do this by eliminating them or delegating them.

Arrange the remaining activities in order of priority based on their impact on your personal and organizational goals.

Schedule time for these important activities in your planner. Make appointments with yourself to actually work on them. The most important ones get scheduled earliest in your planner.

Hold to that schedule. Don't be so quick to give up the time to others. Have as much respect for your own time as you have for others'. Say 'no' more often.

The CRASH course is a way to get the important things done at the expense of the unimportant. It recognizes that we can't do everything, nor be all things to all people. There's always too much to be done in the limited time we have available. It forces us to consider what our goals are, and to realize that to accomplish these goals we must commit ourselves to spend time on them -- sometimes at the expense of things we assumed were necessary. It recognizes that a "not to do" list is as important as a "to do" list. It involves getting off mailing lists, committees and activities that do nothing to further our personal or organizational goals. In a way, it's a zero-based time management program where we get back to the basics, and shake free of all the superfluous activities we got involved in over the years.

Many of us are "activity packrats". The CRASH program recognizes this and asks us to peel away the "trivial many" and the time-consuming habits of a lifetime, leaving the meaningful activities listed in order of importance. There is always time for the things that are important in life; but we have to make room for them. Scheduling tasks and activities directly into our planner, just as we would schedule an appointment with a doctor, business associate or friend, will provide the time to actually do them. Listing what we want to do is not good enough. A "to do" list is simply a wish list; a scheduled block of time is a commitment.

The most difficult part of the CRASH program is actually holding to those commitments. A lifetime of allowing other peoples' requests to take precedence over our own wants and needs is not an easy habit to break. We must realize that our time is as valuable as the next person's. It's our time. And we are the ones responsible for its use.

If you sometimes feel like you are spinning your wheels and not accomplishing anything of real significance, take the CRASH course in time management. Consider. Release. Arrange. Schedule. Hold.

Your Brain Bank

How often had I NOT sought an opportunity because (by my
standards) that wasn't who I was? How much had I missed out
on because of my rigid view of myself?

David J. Schwartz, in his book, "The Magic Of Thinking Big"
provides a beautiful illustration of what we do to ourselves.
He explains that a lack of confidence can be traced directly
to our mis-managed memory.

Imagine that your brain is like a bank. Every day you make
thought deposits in your "mind bank". These thought deposits
grow and become your memory. When you settle down to think
or when you face a problem, in effect you say to your memory
bank, "What do I already know about this?"

Your memory bank automatically answers and supplies you with
information relating to this situation that you deposited on
previous occasions. Your memory is the supplier of material
for your new thought.

The teller in your memory bank is tremendously reliable.
He never crosses you up. If you approach him and say,
"Mr. Teller, let me draw some thoughts I deposited in the
past proving I'm inferior to just about everybody else,"
he'll say, "Certainly".

Recall how you failed two times previously when you tried
this? Recall what your 6th grade teacher told you about your
inability to accomplish things. Recall what you overheard
some fellow workers saying about you and on and on Mr. Teller
goes, digging out of your brain thought after thought that
proves you inadequate.

But suppose you visit your memory teller with this request,
"Mr. Teller, I face a difficult decision. Can you supply me
with any thoughts that will give me reassurance?"

And again, Mr. Teller says, "Certainly," but this time he
delivers thoughts you deposited earlier that say you can
succeed. "Recall the excellent job you did on a similar
situations before. Recall how much confidence Ms. Smith placed
in you. Recall what your good friends said about
you. Recall."

Mr. Teller, perfectly responsive, lets you withdraw the
thought deposits you want to withdraw. After all, it is
YOUR bank.

Shifting our thoughts from who we think we are to who we truly
could be provokes limitless possibilities. Envision the deep
growth and change that could transpire with your new view of
your self.

What if you allowed your mind to serve you rather then rule you?

Change who you think you are - and change your life