Part One
Fundamental facts you should know about worry
1 If you want to avoid worry, do what Sir
William Osler did: Live in "day-tight compartments." Don't stew about
the futures. Just live each day until bedtime.
2 The next time Trouble--with a Capital
T--backs you up in a corner, try the magic formula of Willis H. Carrier:
Ask
yourself, "What is the worst that can possibly happen if I can't solve my
problem?
Prepare
yourself mentally to accept the worst--if necessary.
Then calmly
try to improve upon the worst--which you have already mentally agreed to
accept.
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
4 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 on which
to base a decision."
5 After carefully weighing all the facts, come
to a decision.
6 Once a decision is carefully reached,
act! Get busy carrying out your decision--and dismiss all anxiety about the
outcome.
7 When you, or any of your associates, are
tempted to worry about a problem, write out and answer the following questions:
What is the
problem?
What is the
cause of the problem?
What are
all possible solutions?
What is the
best solution?
Part Three
How to break the worry habit before it breaks you
8 Crowd worry out of your mind by keeping
busy. Plenty of action is one of the best therapies ever devised for curing
"wibber gibbers."
9 Don't fuss about trifles. Don't permit
little things--the mere termites of life--to ruin your happines.
10
Use the law
of averages to outlaw your worries. Ask yourself: "What are the odds
against this thing's happening at all?"
11
Co-operate
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."
12
Put a
"stop-less" order on your worries. Decide just how much anxiety a
thing may be worth--and refuse to give it anymore.
13
Let the
past bury its dead. Don't saw sawdust.
Part Four
Seven ways to cultivate a mental attitude that will bring you peace and
happiness
14
Let's fill
our minds with thoughts of peace, courage, health, and hope, for "our life
is what our thoughts make it."
15
Let's never
try to get even with our enemies, because if we do we will hurt ourselves far
more than we hurt them. Let's do as General Eisenhower does: let's never waste
a minute thinking about people we don't like.
Instead of
worrying about ingratitude, let's expect it. Let's remember that Jesus healed
ten lepers in one day--and only one thanked Him. Why should we expect more
gratitude than Jesus got?
Let's
remember that the only way to find happiness is not to expect gratitude--but to
give for the joy of giving.
Let's
remember that gratitude is a "cultivated" trait; so if we want our
children to be grateful, we must train them to be grateful.
16
Count your
blessings--not your troubles!
17
Let's not
imitate others. Let's find ourselves and be ourselves, for "envy is
ignorance" and "imitation is suicide."
18
When fate
hands us a lemon, let's try to make a lemonade.
19
Let's
forget our own unhappiness--by trying to create a little happiness for others.
"When you are good to others, you are best to yourself."
Part Five
The perfect way to conquer worry
1 Prayer
Part Six
How to keep from worrying about criticism
1 Unjust criticism is often a disguised
compliment. It often means that you have aroused jealousy and envy. Remember
that no one ever kicks a dead dog.
2 Do the very best you can; and then put up
your old umbrella and keep the rain of criticism from running down the back of
your neck.
3 Let's keep a record of the fool things we
have done and criticize ourselves. Since we can't hope to be perfect, let's do
what E.H. Little did: let's ask for unbiased, helpful, constructive criticism.
Part Seven
Six ways to prevent fatigue and worry and keep your energy and spirits
high
1 Rest before you get tired.
2 Learn to relax at your work.
3 Learn to relax at home.
4 Apply these four good workings habits:
Clear your
desk of all papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand.
Do things
in the order of their importance.
When you
face a problem, solve it then and there if you have the facts to make a
decision.
Learn to
organize, deputize, and supervise.
5 To prevent worry and fatigue, put
enthusiasm into your work.
6 Remember, no one was ever killed by lack
of sleep. It is worrying about insomnia that does the damage--not the insomnia.
