Book Summary: How Not To Worry
Paul McGee’s How Not To Worry looks at easy practical ways to help overcome anxiety and stress. Focusing on small, actionable changes you can learn to free up some mental space and think more rationally.
Related Book Summaries:
Happiness By Design – Paul Dolan
The Daily Stoic – Ryan Holiday
Make Your Bed – William H. McRaven
How Not To Worry Book Summary Notes:
- Worry is not only bad for happiness and health, but it’s also a flat waste of your time. Very little is able to be achieved while your worrying.
- Worry is part of the cycle of anxiety and stress.
- The stress response and anxiety can affect your decision-making ability as well as over the long term compromise your health and even negatively affect your sex drive.
- Our pasts are often one of our biggest sources of Worry in our lives. Another source is previous painful experiences.
- Becoming more aware of the sorts of situations or events that can trigger you can help you to avoid those situations in the first place.
- Worry can be divided into 3 categories: situational, anticipatory and residual.
- Situational relates to your present and what’s currently going on. It can range from a fight with a partner to an ongoing health concern or issue.
- Anticipatory relates to the future and is the unease we feel before and leading up to an event. Especially if something is expected of us, say a speech in public or an exam or presentation.
- Residual stress is that that’s left over from our past. From a particularly traumatic event or maybe even in the worst cases PTSD.
- Which of these is the one that troubles you the most? Identifying the type can help you to figure out the triggers and start to make some positive actions for yourself.
- You can’t control everything, so identify the things beyond your control and those that are within your control. Focus on the latter.
