Sunday, February 15, 2015

LESSONS FROM A NAVY SEAL: WHY YOU SHOULD STOP WORRYING.




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 Worry (n): to feel or show fear and concern because you think that something bad has happened or could happen. Verily, all of us have engaged in this recalcitrant proclivity. Last year I came across the statistics that 90% of what we worry about never happens. If that is anything to go by, then we have successfully inundated our lives with time-wasting activities, talkless of plausible impairment of our health [Think about it!] Why I believe it is insurmountable to completely jettison worry, a substantial reduction could be a life changer.


Among several other lessons, I was reminded of worry today as I read through the book “No heroes” by Mark Owen. Mark Owen was one of the Navy SEALS who participated in the Osama Bin Laden raid. In a rock climbing drill he relayed in the book, he said after he ran out of camming devices, he got frozen at some 300 foot, up on the rock! [Almost a 100m dash length!!!]  Loss his front sight focus, became nervous, anything that could plausibly define worry.


One of the instructors came around and gave him a quick coaching.... “Just stay in your 3-foot world” he said...“Focus on what you can affect. You keep looking around, and none of that shit can help you right now, can it?...”


Are you focused on what you can affect? Or completely out of your 3-foot world? My advice – better stay in your 3-foot world! Monitor your thoughts, keep busy, and count your blessings. These are simple [simple but not easy] strategies that can be very salutary. In Dale Carnegie’s how to stop worrying and start living [one of my favorite books], he posited a tactic for handling worries – Mentally accept the worst, and peacefully do your best to improve the worst case scenario.


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Final Sentence: STAY IN YOUR 3-FOOT WORLD!