Would you like a quick, sure-fire recipe for handling worry situations - a technique you can start using right away??
Then let me tell you about this method worked out by Wills H. Carrier, the brilliant engineer who launched the air-conditioning industry, and who is now head of the world-famous Carrier Corporation in Syracuse, New York.
"When I was a young man,"Mr. Carrier said, "I worked for the Buffalo Forge Company in Buffalo, New York. I was handed the assignment of installing a gas - cleaning device in a plant of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass at Crystal City, Missouri - a plant costing millions of dollars. The purpose of this installation was to remove the impurities from the gas so it could be burned without injuring the engines. This method of cleaning gas was new. It had been tried only once before - and under different conditions. In my work at Crystal City, Missouri, unforeseen difficulties arose. It worked after a fashion-but not well enough to meet the guarantee we had made.
"I was stunned by my failure. It was almost as if someone had struck me a blow on the head. My stomach, my insides, began to twist and turn. For a while I was so worried I couldn't sleep. "Finally, common sense reminded me that worry wasn't getting me anywhere; so I figured out a way to handle my problem without worrying. It worked superbly. I have been using this same anti-worry technique for more than thirty years.
It is simple. Anyone can use it. It consist of three steps:
Step 1. I analysed the situation fearlessly and honestly and figured out what was the worst that could possibly happen as a result of this failure. No one was going to jail me or shoot me. That was certain. True, there was a chance that I would lose my position; and there was also a chance that my employees would have to remove the machinery and lose the twenty thousand dollars we had invested.
Step 2. After figuring out what was the worst that could possibly happen, I reconciled myself to accepting it, if necessary. I said to myself: This failure will be a blow to my record, and it might possibly mean the loss of my job; but if it does, I can always get another position. Conditions could be much worse; and as far as my employers are concerned-well, they realise that we are experimenting with a new method of cleaning as, and if this experience costs them twenty thousand dollars, they can stand it. They can charge it up to research, for it is an experiment.
After discovering the worst that could possibly happen and reconciling myself to accepting it, if necessary, an extremely important thing happened: I immediately relaxed and felt a sense of peace that I hadn't experienced in days.
Step 3. From that time on, I calmly devoted my time and energy to trying to improve upon the worst which I had already accepted mentally. I now tried to figured out ways and means by which I might reduce the loss of twenty thousand dollars that we faced. I made several tests and finally figured out that if we spent another five thousand for additional equipment, our problem would be solved We did this, and instead of the firm losing losing twenty thousand, we made fifteen thousand.
I probably would never have been able to do this if I had kept on worrying, because one of the worst features about worrying is that it destroys our ability to concentrate. When we worry, our mind jumps here and there and everywhere, and we lose all power of decision. However, when we force ourselves to face the worst and accept it mentally, we then eliminate all those vague imaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able to concentrate on out problem.
Then let me tell you about this method worked out by Wills H. Carrier, the brilliant engineer who launched the air-conditioning industry, and who is now head of the world-famous Carrier Corporation in Syracuse, New York.
"When I was a young man,"Mr. Carrier said, "I worked for the Buffalo Forge Company in Buffalo, New York. I was handed the assignment of installing a gas - cleaning device in a plant of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass at Crystal City, Missouri - a plant costing millions of dollars. The purpose of this installation was to remove the impurities from the gas so it could be burned without injuring the engines. This method of cleaning gas was new. It had been tried only once before - and under different conditions. In my work at Crystal City, Missouri, unforeseen difficulties arose. It worked after a fashion-but not well enough to meet the guarantee we had made.
"I was stunned by my failure. It was almost as if someone had struck me a blow on the head. My stomach, my insides, began to twist and turn. For a while I was so worried I couldn't sleep. "Finally, common sense reminded me that worry wasn't getting me anywhere; so I figured out a way to handle my problem without worrying. It worked superbly. I have been using this same anti-worry technique for more than thirty years.
It is simple. Anyone can use it. It consist of three steps:
Step 1. I analysed the situation fearlessly and honestly and figured out what was the worst that could possibly happen as a result of this failure. No one was going to jail me or shoot me. That was certain. True, there was a chance that I would lose my position; and there was also a chance that my employees would have to remove the machinery and lose the twenty thousand dollars we had invested.
Step 2. After figuring out what was the worst that could possibly happen, I reconciled myself to accepting it, if necessary. I said to myself: This failure will be a blow to my record, and it might possibly mean the loss of my job; but if it does, I can always get another position. Conditions could be much worse; and as far as my employers are concerned-well, they realise that we are experimenting with a new method of cleaning as, and if this experience costs them twenty thousand dollars, they can stand it. They can charge it up to research, for it is an experiment.
After discovering the worst that could possibly happen and reconciling myself to accepting it, if necessary, an extremely important thing happened: I immediately relaxed and felt a sense of peace that I hadn't experienced in days.
Step 3. From that time on, I calmly devoted my time and energy to trying to improve upon the worst which I had already accepted mentally. I now tried to figured out ways and means by which I might reduce the loss of twenty thousand dollars that we faced. I made several tests and finally figured out that if we spent another five thousand for additional equipment, our problem would be solved We did this, and instead of the firm losing losing twenty thousand, we made fifteen thousand.
I probably would never have been able to do this if I had kept on worrying, because one of the worst features about worrying is that it destroys our ability to concentrate. When we worry, our mind jumps here and there and everywhere, and we lose all power of decision. However, when we force ourselves to face the worst and accept it mentally, we then eliminate all those vague imaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able to concentrate on out problem.
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