“One of the worst features about worrying is that it destroys our ability to concentrate”

– Dale Carnegie

I love Carnegie's books. This quote always stood out to me.

If there is one thing that can completely incapacitate you, it is worry. One of the triggers of worry is overthinking. We all sit, late at night, thinking about all our trials and tribulations, our bills, our business problems and everything else that your mind can manifest.

However, it doesn't have to be this way.

Here are 8 things you need to know about worry, and how, with some effort, you may be able to flip the script.

1. Worrying will not make things better. As a matter of fact, it is probably one of the most counter-productive things you can do and more often than not only make things worse, because instead of focusing on solutions, you are petrified by the problem.

2. If you want to waste time and develop ulcers in your stomach, then worrying will do that for you. Remember: time is your most valuable resource. You will never look back and wish you spent more time worrying.

3. Worrying is like Covid-19, it is very infectious. Have you ever been around someone who worries all the time? It can give you anxiety being around such a person. It spreads to family, friends, clients...and your guests.

4. Worrying will literally kill your creativity and ability to focus on solutions. Your thinking becomes poisoned and you will start to make bad decisions, and this can easily become a cycle of hell.

5. Worrying will put your mind into a perpetual state of fear. It will become harder to find the solutions you need and easier to miss valuable opportunities.

6. Worry is dishonest. Seriously, stop and think about your entire life up to this point and think about all the things that you worried about, that either never happened or were not as bad as you thought it was going to be.

7. You sit up at night and you worry, then worry some more, and more, and next thing you know, you haven't slept at all, and you do it all over again the following day. Worry begets worry.

8. We all have an amazing imagination, worry is playing worse-case scenarios in your head...over and over, which is not a good use of your mind. Instead, move to playing out solutions in your head and the people and things you are grateful for.

What You Can Do Differently

Now, I am not saying you should get up and ignore problems in your life, in your business. However, once you become aware that something is worrying you, it’s time to switch your resources to finding solutions.

Start here: remind yourself that you get to choose what you focus on. Move from the problems that causes your worries, to the solutions to those problems. On the internet, you can almost guarantee someone has gone through what you are going through and have documented solutions. There could be people close to you whose help or advice can assist you with your problem, all you may need to do is reach out to them.

These are tough times for the Belize tourism industry. No doubt about that. However, we need to be thankful, even though we can’t control external circumstances, we absolutely can control how we choose to respond to them.

“Does what’s happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all other qualities that allow a person’s nature to fulfill itself? So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.” — Marcus Aurelius.