I Refuse to Worry

A couple weeks ago, I was having a pow-wow with my boss, and I said to her, "Do you realize almost every sentence you've said over the past few days has started with, 'I'm worried that...'?"

"I know..." she admitted. "But I am worried!"

And I said, "I refuse to worry."

At work, you can't worry that someone might make a mistake. They most certainly will.

You can't worry that you might forget something. You always do. Hopefully someone else will remember and remind you.

You can't worry that a product might not sell, a deal might have been negotiated poorly, or that someone won't do what you ask them to. It will or it won't. It wasn't or it wasn't. They will or they won't.

There's only so much you can do about it.

If you do the best job you can, institute a system of checks and balances, take notes and exploit technology to its fullest potential, the only thing left is to give yourself over to the Universe. Sometimes it rains. Your employees fail and lie to you to cover it up. Your vendors misunderstand your instructions. Your clients misconstrue your promises. Your agencies overpromise and underdeliver.

Worrying that they will doesn't soften the blow when they do.

And when they don't, you've worried for nothing.

So in the absence of worry, under the refusal of worry, you have plenty of time to learn, teach, communicate, double-check, appreciate, forgive, and thank those around you for a job well-done, despite a few imperfections along the way.

Related Reading:
Avoiding Worry

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