What’s the single, most destructive distraction on your path to success?
This may surprise you.
It’s not social media or the Internet. It’s not your phone or your e-mail. Nor is it music, TV, YouTube videos or games.
So what is it?
It’s worry.
Worry keeps you from what’s important. That’s why it’s the most destructive distraction of them all. It’s a roadblock on your path to the life you really want.
Worry attracts
Yes, worry is a distraction. Unfortunately, it’s also a vehicle for attraction.
Your mind can work for you or against you. Success requires mental focus. You get what you focus on.
So the product of worry rings of irony. It would be funny but it’s so sad.
Worry often attracts what you worry about. And there’s a reason for that…
Worry anesthetizes
Have you ever known someone who only seemed happy when they had something to worry about? How successful were they?
We’ve known good people who were like this. Unfortunately, none of them have ever achieved any significant level of success.
Why do you suppose this is? Could it be that all they did was worry? They never actually did anything to turn their worry on its head.
Worry anesthetizes them. It makes them feel good. They get lulled into feeling like they’re doing something. But in reality, they’re doing nothing.
Nothing can be dangerous. Nothing is something.
How to stop worrying
“Worry is like a rocking chair – it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” ~ Author Unknown
Worrying accomplishes nothing. When you feel yourself start to worry, try one or more of the following:
- Measure the worthiness of the worry. This may sound strange, but we often worry over insignificant things. If your worries are validated, how much will it affect you? You may find the worry isn’t worthy of your attention.
- Get real about the downside of the worry. (This is related to the previous point, but we felt we’d serve you better by keeping it separate.) We often imagine dramatic outcomes that have no base in reality. Step away and think logically. What’s the worst that can happen? You’ll usually find the downside isn’t as far down as you originally imagined.
- Turn worry on its head to stop the downward spiral. You have a choice to make. You can control your thoughts or you can let your thoughts control you. Worry can create a downward spiral. You worry about A. It makes you think about B. Oh but wait a minute, C could happen too. The next thing you know, you’ve cooked up the worst catastrophe of your life. Fortunately, there’s a simple-yet-effective way to prevent this from happening. Turn worry on its head. Instead of worrying about what you don’t have, be grateful for what you do have. Instead of worrying about what might happen, remind yourself of the good things that have already happened to you. Turn worry on its head by wrapping your head around your blessings.
- Focus on solutions to stop worrying about problems. Worry attracts, as we said before. So if you only worry about problems, you’ll get more problems. Spend most of your attention, energy and time focusing on finding solutions. Do this and you’ll wind up with more solutions!
- Do something to destroy worry. It’s hard to focus on the task at hand and worry at the same time. Action destroys worry. So do something – even if it’s wrong! By acting, you’ll gain valuable insight about the situation. You’ll learn and adapt. You’ll try again. Before you know it, you’ll be back on the path to your goals!
The bottom line is worry is a distraction that hurts your bottom line. Move from worry to focus. Focus on the one thing you can do right now to reach the next level of success.
