The Resilient Mind - How to Stop Worrying - Jim Rohn

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

Jim Rohn was a renowned motivational speaker who has been widely regarded as one of the best in his field during his time. He had an incredible ability to inspire and motivate people from all walks of life with his speeches and teachings. One of his most notable achievements was serving as a mentor to Tony Robbins, one of the most successful and well-known motivational speakers in the world today.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind Podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to How to Stop Worrying with Jim Rohn. Get access to the Mental Mastery Program and other exclusive episodes by becoming a subscriber. Enjoy. In my seminars the last few years, I have covered what I have found to be those few simple basic principles that can make major changes in life and lifestyle. One of those subjects that gets the most comment is, is diseases of attitude. And out of that subject worry and how to kick the

worry habit have caused the most questions. So in this brief visit with you, let me give you my best look at worry, how to recognize it and define it, and what to do about it. And hopefully these ideas will give you a good chance for confidence over worry. First of all, worry might well be killer. number one. And if it is not the number one physical killer, although doctors tell us worriers die sooner than non-worryers, and we have all heard the expression worry yourself to death, at least it is the number one killer of dreams and achievement of energy and vitality and lifestyle. I know the damage and effect of this killer worry firsthand. I will spare you

the details, but over a period of some three years, I let worry get out of hand. As I've mentioned before, I became a super worrier. I was good at it. The combination of small and big worries about my circumstances, what people thought of me, my finances, my abilities, the future, my progress, all led to a complete physical collapse, a stay in the hospital, emotional, mental and physical exhaustion and a deep despair I couldn't shake, a sad picture for a young man who should have been well on his way to carving out his share of opportunity. I am happy to tell you that good fortune came my way, and as many of you may be aware, I met a man, Mr. Earl Schof, with his ideas and inspiration and the help of a very close friend.

I worked my way past the mine fields of worry and disaster and out into the clear air of mental sunshine. And if I did it, anybody can do it. I'm not saying it's easy. It took me almost a full year to kick the worry habit. It took practice and much effort, but it was well worth it. Remember don't ask for the task to be easy, just ask for it to be worth it. Don't wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don't ask for less challenge, ask for more skills, don't ask for less problems, ask for

more wisdom. It's the challenge that makes the experience and life and its color and meaning and adventure for you is this collection of experiences. To wish them away is to wish your life away. So let's get to worry in what it is and what it does. how to define it and what to do about it. And let's do it with eager, high hope that it won't be long until you will be free of the worry habit and on your way to the life and lifestyle that you want.

First of all, let's define worry. There are many ways we could describe it. Worry is fear painting pictures in your mind. And if you watch that mental movie too long, you get a false picture of how things really are. Worry is a mental broadcasting station, and more often than not, it is false or at least distorted propaganda. Worry has that sneaky way of stopping short of giving you all the facts.

Worry is often the trickery of mentally filtered facts on the negative side and the bold declaration that these are all the facts. Worry has the mental audacity to suggest that the elevator only runs one way. down. Many times worry is a five-alarm bell for a waste-basket fire. And worry is a depletion of constructive emotion. It's wasted mental energy. It's like letting the starter run the battery down when the car won't start. And worry is most often a lack of all the facts, a lack of full understanding, a lack of total information, and an unpreparedness of ability, knowledge, talent, courage, faith, and all the other virtues.

That should give us a better definition of worry, and remember, left unchecked, it can become like a mad dog loose in the house, and the sorrow and pain and regret is too large a price to pay not to do something about it and to do it now. So much for what worry is. The next question is, what can I do about it? What is the first step? My best advice on this is to first recognize worry for what it is. Admit what it does and then decide you now want to be free. It first starts with decision on your part.

And may I add, well, you should decide. Why let worry continue to take money out of your pocket and bank account? Why let worry any longer keep you from becoming all you can be? Why let it rock? of better friendships, better business, better profits, better results, better communication, better family relations. Why impose your worry on others any longer? It's a burden you can get rid of and a monkey you can get off your back. Why not be rid of those sinking, nagging feelings that all is not going to be well, that you can't do it,

that it won't work out for the best. Worry is undue concern that takes up too much of your mental and emotional time. Now we must all be concerned. Hey, life is no joke except to the jokers. Life and how to live it is a serious matter. It is risky, full of peril, and there are constant threats to the good we want and to the pursuit of happiness. However, it is undue concern, or concern that takes up too much mental time that begins

the harm. It's like a family planning a wonderful trip. While they certainly should be concerned about the condition of the car, the tires, and making sure they pick the proper route, it would be foolish to allow themselves to be completely turned negative with the thought that they might crash and kill the entire family. If that were the case, even if they went, the entire trip would be turned into one nightmare of fear with the specter of chaos. looming around every curve rather than enjoying the wonderful trip they had planned for themselves and their family a lot of people do that with their entire life so start to make these declarations and if you mean it they will

start you on your way to confidence and adventure free of the worry habit say first I've had it with worry I'm tired of being beaten down and hassled with all those negative mental pictures. I refuse to be tricked by false facts. I'm really not that weak. Never again do I want those sick feelings inside, those mental false alarms. I'm tired of the drain on my resources. I'm tired of the embarrassment of the lack of confidence. I don't want people, especially my family, to see me in this state anymore. I've got more to offer. I refuse to let my life be short-circuited any longer by letting my mind run wild with a distorted view of the facts, whether I bring it up or if it comes from someone else. Prove it to yourself. Think back over

all the things that you worried about, all the fantastic catastrophic events that your well-meaning advisors had told you were going to happen. Be pleased that none of them ever happened to you, or else you would not be alive today. 90% of the things you worry about never happen anyway. All of us have had these well-meaning advisors who want to appear larger in the eyes of those they wish to advise and who immediately rear back and describe every single bad option they can think of that might possibly happen.

By the time they have finished, the one who has come for some confidence and some help wonders why he even bothers to live anymore. And the fact is, those things are never really going to happen anyway. Bring to question now what your mind tells you or what others tell you and pledge not to go for false alarms. I've had it is a good beginning. This first step will start you arguing with your worry thoughts.

Soon you will start to examine your fears and words. to see if they are valid, and you won't let your mind play those mental tricks any longer. It is possible to destroy any emotion you have, including worry and fear, by a very simple process, and that is, analyze it to death, drag it out on the table, and look at it, weigh it against all of your past experiences. Make sure this one can stand against all the past facts you have. You will now start to use worry instead of letting worry use you. It's a beginning, being in control instead of out of control. You will now let concern and the first signs of worry prompt you to learn, ask questions,

and look at all sides in order to evaluate true, positive, constructive action. Now you can say, I will let fear advise me of the facts, but I won't. Let fear tell me these are all the facts, nor will I let fear determine my reaction to the facts. I will gladly take up the war of faith over doubt, reason over fear, and positive expectation over worry. So talk to yourself right now into a change of attitude. Be persuasive.

Go all out. Show yourself the hell if you don't and the good life of answers and progress if you do. Say to yourself, what a fantastic feeling it must be to stop the panic drain on my mental energy, emotion and physical strength. Imagine putting all that saved energy and emotion and strength into my action plans for the good life. Hey, accept the challenge. believe your beliefs, doubt your doubts, stay on the campaign to give worry a bad time. Like being your own conscientious judge say, I've had it with the presentation of a one-sided

story. I sustain the objection that worry has failed to bring out all the facts. I despise these mental courtroom maneuvers that try to belittle my client, me. I demand the whole truth. And if worry will not be silent, I may cite him for contempt of the court of reason. Call up that scene often when worry wants to hassle you with the same old tricks and the same old results. It will work every time.

Okay, let's move on to some really positive steps. If you can survive all that has happened to you up to this moment in your life, in spite of doing and thinking many of the wrong things, imagine how you can succeed. by now starting to do some of the right things. First, the best answer to worry is confidence, and confidence starts first with awareness. Here is one of the most important lessons in life to learn. Life and business is like the changing seasons,

and the real challenge of life is to learn how to handle the winter and take advantage of the spring. In short, that's it. You see, winter always comes, but so does the spring. Night follows day, but also day follows night. Sure the tide goes out, but it always comes in. Opportunity follows difficulty as surely as difficulty follows opportunity. For this subject, however, let's talk about how to handle the winters.

times when worry like winter takes its heavy toll. So we tell it like it is. Winter always comes. So does the night. Some happenings in our life will always be a cause for concern. And sometimes concern turns to worry and worry turns to fear. But remember, that is to be expected. Each day, each event, each season brings both expected and unexpected and un-expected.

expected challenges that we must think about and make decisions on. Life is like a stream that flows continuously. The better we understand that, the better chance we have to produce good results out of all of our challenges. Here's some of the best advice I have on worry. First, don't be afraid to face the facts of life. It is not negative to understand that the winter's always come. be faked out. Don't clip the word impossible out of the dictionary. Sure the Bible says all things

are possible. Don't say I don't want to hear the problem. I don't want to see the difficulty. Don't show me the weeds. Don't say anything negative. Only see the positive. That's foolish. There is a thin line between positive thinking and kidding yourself. And remember, there's also a thin line between faith and folly. Here is the key. Humans have the unique ability to see it as it is, and they also have the ability to see it better than it is. One is called fact, the other is called faith. Faith you develop, facts you acquire. The facts you acquire are essential. It's like belief. you constantly must find facts to support your belief. Here is a good prayer.

Help me to see it as it is, and help me to see it better than it is, and then inspire me to act. What faith and action. What a combination for personal progress. And so we come right back to the theme of our entire enterprise, self-development. Learn to work harder on yourself than anything else. The key to all success in economics or mental health is self-development. It will all change for the better when you change for the better.

It's what you become that really counts. And you are the only variable. So a good statement is you can't be all positive. You can't be all confident. You can't be all faith. But confidence and faith and courage and inspiration can dominate worry and fear. Make sure you give yourself the best chance to get mental and emotional domination over all of your challenges. And here is one of the master keys to the good life.

Developing the intelligence and accepting the challenge of putting all of your emotional experience into their rightful ratio. Beginning this progress can bring about the most dramatic changes. You see, disappointment is like winter. It always comes. It is foolish to say, don't be disappointed. But you must learn to discipline your disappointment. If it dominates 51% of your time, you're in trouble. Continued heavy disappointment is like 12 months of winter. And 12 months of winter leaves very little alive.

Use the guidelines of seasons to adjust to all the meaningful things that happen to you. So concern, fear, and disappointment like many human emotions serve a useful purpose as long as they are kept in their rightful ratio. Left unattended, the weeds take over. Disappointment rules. Worry breaks loose, fear gets the upper hand and doubt moves in. managed, worked, given human action with will and knowledge and purpose, and gardens overcome weeds, faith overcomes doubt, and confidence pushes worry into a small place. The second major key to mastering worry is to respond. Build up inside of you that heavy

desire to be free, to get on with building your life and lifestyle. Too much is waiting to delay. Take a new look at your opportunities, figure out new ways to seize them immediately and make them work for you. And here is a key. Bring a new dedication that you will master yourself with enough discipline to be more than qualified to do the present job and prepare yourself for the next move up. Expose yourself to every stimulation possible that will put all this in perspective. Now let's move on to a very important point. and that is, the best answer to worry is confidence. First, self-confidence.

I can better handle next winter. I have a strong shelter. It is stocked with supplies. I now know how to take advantage of the spring. I'm going to plant better crops and bigger crops. I can last through the summer. I won't quit this time. I'll study weeds and how to get rid of them.

I'll be less frightened of the changing weather and the quick storm. In the fall I will exercise more care and reap what I have without complaint and blame nothing for the amount of my harvest. I'll learn to save a fair portion so that I can survive the bad seasons when out of control, the hailstorm comes and it all goes wrong. Now we must consider this. the most fatal deterrent to self-confidence is guilt. Not doing all you know how to do, to the full extent of your present ability, weakens the foundation for confidence. The biggest part of worry comes from the lack of this personal confidence, and lack of confidence comes from two major things.

First, no goals or planned. And second, no daily discipline to achieve. The inaction to cure or handle small task is what starts the guilt process. And that always tends to make you look at what's wrong and expect the worst. So listen to the voices of creative experience. Let nature, experience, wisdom, books, everything,

speak to you and teach you. Remember, both opportunity and challenge await action. Everything yields to diligence. It's not what you can do. It's what you will do that counts. An undeveloped ability comes from three problems. First, lack of inspiration to find out. Second, lack of reasons to learn.

And third, lack of applied time and action. for developing those abilities. Remember, humans are remarkable, a marvelously functioning entity. Imagine how uniquely your body and mind have survived and managed to function in spite of all the worry. Humans don't die easy. They die hard. Develop a plan for your life rather than aimlessly drifting through it, the victim of circumstance. Create your own environment. and learn to control it.

You control your own mental environment by developing yourself. So go on a crash program to clean up decisions. Get things done. Get other things set up and started and organized. Start doing all the things that would make you feel better. Exercise, diet, reading more books. Open a floodgate of positive moves in the right direction. and be thankful.

Add up what you do have. Make an actual as well as a conscious mental list of all you possess, tangible as well as intangible. In view of the four billion other inhabitants of the world, yours is probably an incredible list. That list and being thankful should then lead to the big step of discipline. The discipline to sit up and listen. the discipline to pay attention,

the discipline to give people and kids the gift of your attention, the discipline to be alert, take care of yourself, rest, eat properly, the discipline to talk well and practice good manners. Courtesy is contagious. Take one day and see what a variety of positive steps you can take and projects you can take on. At the end of the day, go over it. Write out the positive steps, the progress,

projects the rest the exercise the meals the hobbies calls records conversations and letters and speaking of calls and letters write at least one encouraging letter or thank you note and make at least one encouraging phone call or thank you call every week then have a friend help you as one helped me to get all the facts and prepare for action from such a friendship the greatest gift you can draw is the truth. To one of my dearest friends I said just the other day, as my friend, do me the one best thing you can do for me, and that is, tell me the truth. From there I can grow. I can start making wise decisions. To sum it all up, first understand what worry is. You now know

that it can be beneficial and destructive, depending on your awareness. Next, resolved to be free of the habit. That job is up to you. To work on yourself, to get the right attitude. Next, start the daily action of first cleaning up all your current situation. Remember, little achievements lead to confidence that conquers guilt. Then buy up every challenge to reach your goal. You can now handle it, the winter, the spring, the harvest,

Bring a new zeal to every problem, to every fear, to every opportunity. The inspiration from it all and the immediate and future progress that will someday give you a view from the top of your goals, your adventure, and your achievement. Thank you for tuning into this episode with Jim Rohn. If you're enjoying the content and would like to help the podcast grow, you can support us by subscribing or making a small donation through the link in the show notes. As a subscriber, you will also gain access to exclusive episodes. Thank you for being a member of the Resilient Mind community.