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The Price of Worry How it Impacts Your Performance

Guest post by: Anna Weber

Article Overview: You probably think worry is a ¡§natural¡¨ part of life; something that comes into play just to protect us. Reconsider this possibility: when you keep going through the same habits of worry, procrastination, or even emotional drama, again and again ¡X effectively avoiding having to take a constructive, corrective action, life does more than become rather repetitive¡K it gets to be predictable! And that ¡§prediction¡¨ does not leave you in a powerful place.

The Price of Worry How it Impacts Your Performance

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.
~ Corrie Ten Boom

2009 will require that we put ourselves in a place of expecting and creating results. It is necessary to assess any actions that prevent us from achieving maximum performance, and one of them is worry.

You probably think worry is a “natural” part of life; something that comes into play just to protect us. Reconsider this possibility: when you keep going through the same habits of worry, procrastination, or even emotional drama, again and again — effectively avoiding having to take a constructive, corrective action, life does more than become rather repetitive… it gets to be predictable! And that “prediction” does not leave you in a comfortable place.

Worry stems from a fear of something. Have you ever found yourself frozen in fear – worrying about the negative results of low performance, and knowing your job or credibility is on the line, yet you remain unable to move beyond the fear and worry? It is obviously a no-win situation. The only result of worrying is that it wastes time, steals energy and becomes a huge brick wall – standing between you and what you want to achieve.

How do you transform worry? Face the underlying fear and taking some positive action.

The following outlines some of the worries we experience and some action steps which will serve to help you convert problems into viable solutions:

Problem: Not being prepared to deal powerfully in a faster, more complex environment.
It is natural to worry that there is something significantly wrong with us, such as facing the fear of being unable to keep up with the unrelenting demands of work. It is also natural for that fear and worry about escalating work demands to cause people to feel overwhelmed and anxious, which in turn undermines confidence and effectiveness.

Action Step: Utilizing advanced tools and developing positive, action-oriented work habits are critical to easing the worry about being effective in a faster, more complex environment… and help build the confidence that getting everything done is possible.

Problem: Being fearful that stress and overwhelm directly impact performance and… job retention.
The unfavorable results that are created by this kind of worry reveal themselves in obvious ways. Surveys reveal that Americans who deal with work-related stress has doubled in the past ten years, and workers generally feel overwhelmed by the amount of work they are required to complete. Add to this the fact that medical records show increased ill-health being reported by front-line managers who are worried about the direct link between performance and job retention. Yet no one really gets to the "heart" of the problem.

Action Step: Breaking away from worry and fear cannot happen until you become aware of your unexamined, unconsciously triggered emotions, and turn them into new processes for managing what worries you. It is essential to ask the difficult questions that allow you to finally examine your worries, such as:

„Q What is the biggest fear facing you today?
„Q What can you do to shift your thinking and modify your reaction to it?

Problem: We tend not to address things which worry us because we are fearful there is nothing we can do to resolve them.
Problems cannot be resolved if we do nothing about them, but many people are afraid to take that first step or to risk the unknown - so they procrastinate, then worry about the inevitable result of low performance, but do nothing to change it. This reminds me of Robert Frost’s quote: “The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.”

Action Step: Address the fear of the unknown, discover why you are afraid to “risk” and decide what possibilities lie ahead which just may be the resolution to your problem! Often, we are so caught up in the worry process, that we blind ourselves to obvious possibilities. Could it be something as simple as learning a new skill, asking someone to clarify a confusing concept or even delegating a task that appears to be consuming you?

Charles Kettering probably has the best action step… "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

I hope this article does a little to “shake up your thinking” and places you in the frame of mind to … engage in positive, life-altering activities that will provide you with long-term, sustainable benefit!

Until the muses visit once again …

Anna Weber

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Article Tags: corrective action, emotional drama, procrastination



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