Worry can really mess with things–most particularly our minds. I don’t know about you, but I need my marketing mind set for success (not worry)–every single day. If I get caught up in one of those awful worry cycles, it’s a little bit like a hamster wheel. It keeps me busy (to exhaustion!), but it doesn’t get me anywhere. Worse, it squanders precious time, energy, focus, and productivity; it steals the best part of my days and even my sleep at night.
Can you relate?
One of the best ways I have found for breaking out of the worry cycle–or better yet, never letting it take hold–is this:
Whenever I feel it threatening to overwhelm me, I remind myself that worry is really a fear of giving up control of the known, to the unknown. Nobody likes the unknown. The good news is that every unknown can be turned into a known. Once we know what we are dealing with, we can put an action plan in place to handle it. Here’s what I mean:
When I was a young mom I worried each time I put my child on the school bus, because I was giving up my control over his environment and care (known) to others (unknown). I was letting him out of my control and that was hard–until I realized what I was doing and came to understand it in the way I just described. Then I felt a little foolish; I hadn’t really thought of myself as having a lot of “control issues.” Oops.
Self-knowledge is a humbling thing. And totally necessary for growth.
I found that by pinpointing my worry around the particular “known control” I was giving up, I could see new options for relieving the fear of the unknown. For instance, in the school bus scenario, I made a point of getting to know the school bus driver by reaching out to him with a friendly greeting and short exchange each morning. Amazingly, after just a couple of days, my fears gave way to trust. I was pretty sure that little Mac was in good hands and that I could let go of the worry.
The lesson here? That there is something over which we always maintain complete control–our own thoughts, fears, and behaviors. By getting clear about what we fear–and the particular unknowns involved, we can take back control (in a good way) and relieve worry.
So here is an action formula to follow when worry threatens to mess with your marketing mindset:
Step one: identify the unknown that scares you;Step two: make a short list of things you can do to change the unknown into a known; Step three: Start doing them.
As a bonus for yourself, once you start turning worry into confidence, try this little exercise: Recall another time in your life that you got through a situation that had caused you a lot of worry. Tell yourself a good (true) story about how things finally worked out. Make yourself the hero or heroine of the story–because you are!
Now go out–boldly–and be amazed and amazing today!
Thia
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Out Of Your Mind(set) With Worry? Take Back Control In A Minute
Worry can really mess with things–most particularly our minds. I don’t know about you, but I need my marketing mind set for success (not worry)–every single day. If I get caught up in one of those awful worry cycles, it’s a little bit like a hamster wheel. It keeps me busy (to exhaustion!), but it doesn’t get me anywhere. Worse, it squanders precious time, energy, focus, and productivity; it steals the best part of my days and even my sleep at night.
Can you relate?
One of the best ways I have found for breaking out of the worry cycle–or better yet, never letting it take hold–is this:
Whenever I feel it threatening to overwhelm me, I remind myself that worry is really a fear of giving up control of the known, to the unknown. Nobody likes the unknown. The good news is that every unknown can be turned into a known. Once we know what we are dealing with, we can put an action plan in place to handle it. Here’s what I mean:
When I was a young mom I worried each time I put my child on the school bus, because I was giving up my control over his environment and care (known) to others (unknown). I was letting him out of my control and that was hard–until I realized what I was doing and came to understand it in the way I just described. Then I felt a little foolish; I hadn’t really thought of myself as having a lot of “control issues.” Oops.
Self-knowledge is a humbling thing. And totally necessary for growth.
I found that by pinpointing my worry around the particular “known control” I was giving up, I could see new options for relieving the fear of the unknown. For instance, in the school bus scenario, I made a point of getting to know the school bus driver by reaching out to him with a friendly greeting and short exchange each morning. Amazingly, after just a couple of days, my fears gave way to trust. I was pretty sure that little Mac was in good hands and that I could let go of the worry.
The lesson here? That there is something over which we always maintain complete control–our own thoughts, fears, and behaviors. By getting clear about what we fear–and the particular unknowns involved, we can take back control (in a good way) and relieve worry.
So here is an action formula to follow when worry threatens to mess with your marketing mindset:
Step one: identify the unknown that scares you;
Step two: make a short list of things you can do to change the unknown into a known;
Step three: Start doing them.
As a bonus for yourself, once you start turning worry into confidence, try this little exercise: Recall another time in your life that you got through a situation that had caused you a lot of worry. Tell yourself a good (true) story about how things finally worked out. Make yourself the hero or heroine of the story–because you are!
Now go out–boldly–and be amazed and amazing today!
Like this article? Please add a comment or ask a question, share it, bookmark it, ReTweet it, and then subscribe to Thia’s RSS Feed.
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