Doug Cartland's Four-Minute Leadership Advisory
Worries                 
by Doug Cartland
Doug Cartland, Inc.
02/10/2015

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We flew out of Milwaukee in a snowstorm early last Sunday morning for a five-day trip to Costa Rica as the threat of an airport closing loomed.

 

And I worried...

 

I worried when the snow began to fall Saturday night.

 

I worried about the roads that we would have to travel in the middle of the night to get to the airport.

 

I worried that she would be late when I picked her up.

 

I worried that she might want to eat and we wouldn't have time.

 

I worried that we would be late for our flight because of the slow traveling roads.

 

I worried that we would end up in a ditch.

 

I worried that our flight would be canceled.

 

I worried that we'd be spending a night in Milwaukee and miss one of our five days in Costa Rica.

 

I worried at baggage check when there was no one at the counter waiting on anyone.

 

I worried when I saw how long the line was.

 

I worried when there was only one very slow moving counter person who eventually showed up.

 

I worried when the counter person announced that she would check us all in, but there was talk of closing the airport so it might be in vain.

 

I worried when we checked in at the kiosk and they were calling people ahead of us who had checked in after us.

 

I worried that we would be delayed and we would miss our connection in Houston.

 

I worried that if we missed our connection that our only other connection wouldn't be there because that one was originating in Chicago, another snow-buried airport...

 

Well, we survived the drive, slow as it was. She was on time (five minutes early!) and said nothing about eating. We got checked in on time. Our plane was delayed by a little over an hour and we missed our connection in Houston. However, the next connecting flight was actually coming from Cleveland not Chicago so we made that flight arriving in Costa Rica just three hours later than planned.

 

Not bad.

 

Oh, and then we spent five splendid days and nights on a Costa Rican beach. I wasn't so worried then...

 

But here's the question I have for you: What do all of those worries I had have in common?

 

If your answer is that I had exactly zero control over any of them then you'd be correct. My worries could not make any of those situations one smidge better.

 

Ah, worrying about things you cannot control. It's one of the great stress reducers if you can avoid it.

 

You wouldn't know it by the above story, but I've actually come a long way in this area. I used to lose a lot of sleep lying in bed at night mulling the uncontrollable, tossing and turning to every whim of my anxiety.

 

That doesn't happen to me that much anymore. When the thoughts come I can usually grab ahold of them, wrestle them out of my head and plant my mind on more positive things...and sleep.

 

I've experienced the benefits of emotional energy well-placed.

 

But then I have days like last Sunday.

 

When I share with leaders my 21 principles on reducing stress through balance I'm upfront saying that I don't claim to have them all figured out yet.

 

But, step by step, one test at a time, I'm determined to improve.

 

And the next time I'm flying in a snow storm, I'll expect of myself to worry a little bit less, to take one more step forward, to save my emotional energy for when it will actually be helpful.

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Sincerely,  

Doug

 

Doug Cartland, President
Doug Cartland, Inc.

 

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