You might not be able to stop worry completely, but you can get better at it :)
‘Worrying’ is expensive both in individual cost, and the cost of lost time and productivity. One recent study in which subjects were given random alerts to write down current thoughts showed that 47-55% were worrying. Worry is not a good strategy unless done correctly.
Telling yourself to stop worrying makes it worse because of psychological reactance. Ordering yourself to do something can set up the opposite result. If you instruct yourself to “just not think about it”, your thinking will be invaded more. People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. The Zeigarnik Effect suggests that incomplete tasks, such as dismissing worry, will intrude until they are completed.
THREE STEPS:
When your worry shows up, don't get annoyed. Write it on a ‘worry pad’ that you keep nearby. Writing the worry down is the first step in helping to loosen its grip.
Get back to work, writing down the worry as often as you need.
Later, say on a 3:00 pm break, take your Worry Pad to a quiet corner and review all your worries. Worry about them as intently as you can.
Result? At some point you will be able to release what is on your Worry Pad because:
a) you’ll be able to see the futility of those worries and that will loosen their grasp on you, and
b) because you are giving your worries 100% attention, you just might get to a solution.
Either way, this is more efficient than letting worry drain your attention and energy. If you’re going to worry, might as well do it right.
