Tausi Insider

Alfred E. Neuman, the legendary figurehead for Mad Magazine, was best known for his phrase, “What, me worry?” You may want to adopt that motto. Consultant Kevin Eikenberry argues that worrying is folly. But most of us do, in fact, worry and we often believe it’s helpful. He sets out some of the benefits we perceive: Worrying might prevent negative events from happening, it reduces our guilt because we are doing something, it gets us thinking about the problem, it shows we care, and it can keep us from being surprised should the fear come true. He adds on LinkedIn one reason we might not want to admit: “We worry because we worry, even if we aren’t sure why.” But how many of those justifications make sense? How many would change the outcome? His review of the research on worry finds, depending on the study, that between 85 and 92 per cent of our worries never come true. Worrying, he sums up, “makes you feel bad, raises your stress and worsens your mood. This activity rarely can change...