The Worrier's Guidelines

| Print |

1. Set aside a certain time of day for worrying – and specify a time period (5- 10 minutes per day.) Concentrate only on worrying during that time. 2. Ask yourself “What is the worst thing that could happen?” 3. Use “self-talk” and thought-stopping techniques to “short circuit” your worries. Tell your mind to STOP! 4. Instead of worrying about the negative, picture what you ideally want to have happen. Imagine it, and then develop an action plan to begin to move toward the ideal. 5. Realize that worry is a time robber, and a stress producer. 6. Make a worry list. Include everything you find yourself worrying about. Write a “P” for productive worries, ones that you can do something about, and “NP” next to the non-productive worries (worries that you cannot do anything about.) For the productive worries, write an action item next to the “P” so you can change it from worry to a concern you are doing something about. 7. Do take action. Many items we worry about can be dealt with by effective planning. It means setting and defining goals. It means identifying actions that can be taken to move us toward out goals. 8. Make lists and cross off the small steps to achieve your goals. Do not procrastinate, do achieve some small part of your goal on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly.) 9. Take a look at your goals. If you are not acting on the goals you do have, you may need to reassess or eliminate them. But don’t worry about them. Worry just wastes your time and energy. 10. Notice if you feel guilty for not worrying…