How to Worry Productively
Worry is part of life. According to a new analysis , 38 percent of us worry about something every day, which, frankly, seems insignificant. However, with a little tweak, you can turn your worries into a productive way to solve problems.
This is an easy transition because many of us are worried because we have problems that we would like to solve . Worry alone does not solve these problems, although it can make us feel a little more prepared. The programof self-help of the Australian National Universityfor people with anxiety contains a checklist to solve your problems. You will need to create an account if you want to use the complete self-help program, but it is based on the following steps to solve problems:
- Check your attitude . Decide that you are going to solve something, and not just sit back and feel sorry for yourself.
- Identify the concern the solution may have , and then clarify it by being very specific about what you are afraid of and why it is bad.
- Ask yourself for evidence . Is this concern based on what happened before? Do you have any reason to believe that this is real? Write it down, but also consider whether there is evidence against the concern coming true.
- Determine the actions you can take to solve the problem . There may be more than one, so brainstorm.
- Write down the pros and cons of these actions . This will help you figure out which one to take.
- Choose one of these actions and give it a try . Then write down whether it helped or not.
You can use these steps as logging queries. Consider each question and come up with written answers. Later, you can look back at what you wrote, which is especially important in the last step. Over time, you will have a record of not only what is bothering you, but how you solved it. This can help the next time you have a similar concern.