Worry – The Useless Emotion

It is alarming how much so many leaders have accepted worry as a natural consequence of running a business. We worry about our environment, our relationships, our finances, our firms, our governments, and our health. When we have a moment free of worry, we worry that we don’t have any worries and begin to frantically search our mind for our concerns. Why? So we can worry! And because we have accepted worry as natural, we fail to understand the insidious power that worry has and the effects that it brings forth and manifests. The definition of worry is: (1) a troubled state of mind; anxiety; distress; uneasiness. (2) To bite, pull or tear (at an object) or thought. We have become so lost in the forest of our thoughts it has become impossible to see the trees or the path that is directly in front of us. Worry takes you out of the present and redirects your focus to the past and then projects it upon a future that you are striving to avoid experiencing. Worry is the negation of all your positive thoughts and becomes an un-moveable roadblock to your desires. It has been said that what we love never leaves our thoughts – who would have thought that worry would become such a loving distraction? Worry is un-moveable because we have come to love its presence in our minds. We believe that worry is necessary in order to maintain structure, continuity and control over our affairs. Ultimately, in practicing worrying, we have begun to experience ourselves as far less than we were created to be. I have many times written about the power of our thoughts. If you haven’t figured out yet that what manifests in your company EXACTLY reflects the dominant patterns of your thoughts, it’s time to get on with the program. If you still think that what happens happens and you really don’t have any or much control of it, you’re living in an illusion. Worry is a collection of thoughts and when the thoughts are focused they bring forth the very same circumstances that we have worried about! In fact, worry has more power to manifest than prayer, affirmation, etc. Perhaps it’s time to set a practice in place that begins to fill those spaces that have housed worry. If you worry about the financial condition of your company, you’ll have finances that are worrisome and your company will do very poorly financially. If you worry about your company, you’ll have a company that will give you lots to worry about. If you worry about your health, your well being will give you lots to worry about. Where there is a lack of sales and/or profitability, there is no one to blame but our faulty thinking. I have seen so many examples of this in the last two years and the results of eliminating this dis-empowering way of thinking that it’s no longer up for discussion. One client whose sales were flat for many years and largely unprofitable saw sales increase by 30% in one year and profits increase by 300% when the owner agreed to stop worrying about his company. Another client whose net equity was in the red over a ten year period had their most profitable year when the president agreed to do the same. Personally, 2004 and 2005 were the most profitable years ever when I saw in 2002 my own version of this and worked all during that year and the next to eliminate this ugly way of thinking. We can choose what we think – in fact, we can begin a practice that affirms the thoughts we want to think and thereby calls forth those things that we want to experience. Through practice, you can become that which I trust you are seeking – the powerful, loving, peaceful, healthy, successful, abundant and radiant being you were created to become! It’s all so simple, just not very easy. For most of you, and please don’t be offended by this, you are so unconscious of your thoughts, that they run your life and you don’t even realize it. I know this because as hard as I try to stay conscious, I still find myself in thought patterns that are not in my best interests. Which is why I have a coach. She helps me see what I can’t or don’t see and keeps me on the path I am committed to. If you run a firm or a department and don’t have a coach, I promise you you’re not being all you can be and I promise you your firm or your department is not fulfilling on its potential. Agree with that or not, it is the truth.