“Worrying about things going wrong isn’t the way to make them go right.” True, & not true.”

~ Unknown

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Worried About Things Going Wrong?

I found this quote on Pinterest, and chose it for my weekly selection because of its potential to shed some light on a topic a lot of people are dealing with… worry. I have added the “true and not true” appendage because I think it’s important to acknowledge that sometime, worrying about things going wrong, can help us deal with them more effectively, if not “make them go right.”

In fight-or-flight situations, for example, when we are in physical danger, then worrying about things going wrong can motivate us to take action that deals with the situation effectively. If we are in a dangerous situation, (for example, if we are driving the wrong way on the freeway, or someone is coming at us with a knife, or we are in an abusive relationship) being worried is a perfectly natural, and even helpful, perspective.

However, notice how few of the situations we face on a daily basis are truly fight-or-flight in nature. In these more common situations (we may have money problems, or issues that need discussing in our relationship, or maybe we are in a job that we dread), worrying about what can go wrong doesn’t make them go right.

In fact, what is called for here is our ability to access our best thinking and skills to deal with the situation, and those qualities and skills do not reside in the part of the brain that worries.

Of course, the answer here isn’t denial. It isn’t about just sticking our heads in the sand and hoping things will improve. The answer is awareness. Being able to look at a situation and determine what is working and what isn’t, and then take the necessary steps to make things better.

For those of you who follow my “Life from the Top of the Mind” philosophy, you know that the “worry brain” is the brainstem and the clear, confident, and creative brain where we have access to our problem-solving skills and interpersonal skills is the neocortex. The problem is that the part of the brain that determines whether we engage the brainstem or neocortex is the limbic system… which is unconscious!

Therefore, in order to consistently access our neocortex, this aware and purposeful brain, we must train the limbic system (the scanner, processor, router part of the brain) to interpret data in such a way that it engages the neocortex versus the brainstem.

This is what I do as a speaker, consultant, and psychologist. I give individuals and organizations the tools that they need to make the unconscious “conscious,” and access their best so that they are spending less time worrying about things going wrong and more time making them go right. If you would like this for you and/or your organization, I suggest you contact me, because unless we are in a fight-or-flight situation, worrying about things going wrong only makes us more worried.

Take care and God bless, Dr. Bill