| Michael Angier is the founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of
SuccessNet based in
South Burlington, Vermont USA. He’s a father, husband, writer, speaker,
entrepreneur, coach and student. He's also the creator of The World Class
Business™ Conference. |
I grew up on a Vermont farm. After college I
bought a farm of my own and operated it for several years.
You might be interested to know that I learned the secret to making
a small fortune in farming. It's kind of inside information and I
don't pass it around to just anybody. Ready? Here it is: start out
with a large one, and sooner or later, you'll have a small one.
Farmers don't lead easy lives. The
work is hard and the risks are great. They're dependent on the
weather and many other things outside of their control.
I used to worry all the time. I
worried about livestock disease. I worried about getting bank loans.
I worried about the buying price of grain and the selling prices of
livestock. I worried about not having enough money. I was unhappy,
fatigued and irritable. It had become a disease.
And then I read Dale Carnegie's
classic, HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING. In doing so, I
realized that I was making myself sick with worry and that I could
pay a very heavy price. Reading that book may have saved my life.
I came to the awareness that worry
was like prayer in reverse. When we worry and fret over things, we
make them bigger than they really are, as well as attract what we're
fussing over. It's proof positive of the principle of
visualization--only in a negative way. It's contrary prayer-prayer
in reverse.
Somehow, I had it wired up that worry
was actually virtuous. I guess I figured that I wasn't being a good
parent unless I worried about my kids. I thought I was being
irresponsible if I wasn't worrying about my business and my
finances. Not so.
It took me over a year to kick the
worry habit. It wasn't easy. It took daily diligence to eradicate it
from my life. I occasionally slip back into worry for brief periods,
but I don't stay with it. It no longer runs my life.
Worry is not our friend. It's our
enemy. Jim Rohn says, "Worry is like an economic cancer. And if
continued, it will haul you off into a financial desert where you
will choke on the dust of your own regrets." How's that for a
vivid picture?
Most of the things we worry about are
things over which we have little or no control. If we think about
it, it's stupid. Agonizing about what might occur and about things
we can't control gives our power away. Thankfully, most of what we
worry about never occurs. The French philosopher Michel Eyquem de
Montaigne, wrote in the 1500's, "My life has been filled with
terrible misfortune; most of which never happened."
What do YOU worry about? In my
research, I've found most people are excellent worriers. They worry
about illness, lack of money, old age, taxes, the next
generation--you name it! They burn up their energy, lower their
resistance to illness and actually draw to them what they fear. Like
Job in the Bible, "That which I have feared has come upon
me."
Our hospital and cemeteries are
filled with people who made worry an everyday companion. Don't be
one of them. If you suffer from this affliction, you need to cure
yourself.
The biggest lever for change is to be
aware of what we're doing and realize how detrimental it is to our
lives. If you find yourself upset or anxious, check to see if you're
worrying. If so, focus on what you WANT rather than what you DON'T
want. You can't STOP worrying. You have to START thinking about
desired results-something good instead of something bad. Start
working on the solution rather than a possible negative outcome.
By doing so, you'll be healthier,
live longer, have more fun and produce more of what you want.
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