“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” — Mark Twain
Do you let your problems bother you throughout the day or into the night?
Consider taking a Worry Break to beat your stress.
Worry Breaks could be your best way to consolidate and beat stress with skill. Just schedule 30 minutes each day to batch and focus on all your problems. This way you know you have a time and place to do your worrying. When you find your mind getting distracted by your worries, just remind yourself that you have a Worry Break, and you’ll worry about it then.
In Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks, Dr. Julian Whitaker and Carol Colman suggest taking a worry break.
How To Take a Worry Break
Taking a worry break is just like it sounds. Carve out a specific time in your day to worry all you want, and then get to things, with a freer mind, and an action plan.
Via Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks:
“Find 30 minutes during the late afternoon to take a ‘worry break’. Sit down quietly. Worry.
Do it intensely. Think about what is bothering you and how you can make the situation better.
Some people find that actually writing down the problem and listing possible solutions can be beneficial. If there is something you can do to resolve a problem, do it or at least formulate a plan of action.
Then put worrying aside until the next day.
If you being to worry when you get into bed, say to yourself, ‘No. I’ve taken care of that already.’ It sounds simple, but it can work if you let it.”
Key Take Aways
Here are my key take aways:
- Consolidate your problems. Consolidate your problems rather than let them interfere throughout your day. Set a time limit and worry as intensely as you want within that time limit.
- If you’re going to worry, worry right. Do it with rigor, get intense, and get results.
- Free yourself up for the rest of the day. Forget about your problems for the rest of the day.
I really like the idea of a worry break. I think it’s similar to trying not to edit while you write, or trying not to critique while you brainstorm.
Problems can suck you down whether you’re just trying to have fun or trying to focus on the task at hand.
How great is that, to know you have a time and place for your troubles?
It’s a great idea in theory… in reality, I’m not so sure I can turn my worries off at will. Thank you for an interesting thought!
Hey Vered
Are you going to test it? I’ll be curious to hear about your results.
Here’s what I found. Having a worry break gives me focus time to make some quick plans for some key problems. It also helps me defer the problems that pop up.
The most interesting thing is during my worry break, it forces me to ask prioritize — what are my worst worries? This puts everything else in perspective.
yup, I think I will give it a try… it does sound promising. I do worry too much.
If it helps to know, here’s exactly what I do for an effective worry break:
1. I write down everything I can think of. I don’t analyze it, I just dumped.
2. When nothing else seemed worth writing down, I walk through my list.
3. I group things so I can divide and conquer.
4. I prioritize the issues.
5. I look for oppportunities to cut off problems at the branch vs. the leaves.
When I have an organized set of problems, I find I can more effectively tackle them.
J.D.
What an interesting concept. Used properly I can see how this could work.
Combine this with Eckert Tolle’s “The Power Of Now” and it could be a win-win situation.
When I have worries I find it works best to write them down too. There’s something to be said for that “from head to hand” practice.
Hey Barbara
You’re the second person that mentioned “the power of now to me” — I think I have some homework to do.
Hi J.D.
“The Power of Now” is a great book. It teaches us how to live in the moment. A real eye opener.
I’ll be watching for your review of it. 🙂
[…] When you do this, you open up more options. For example, there’s a technique called a Worry Break, where you limit the amount of time you spend […]
Comments are closed.