A few times a year I’m required to go to a conference or seminar for work. I need to arrange the flight, transportation, hotel, etc. Typically these things are no big deal, but I do find myself nervous and anxious about all of the preparations before the conference begins. I start to fret about what-if’s. What if my flight is cancelled, what-if there is a problem with my hotel room, how will I get to where I need to go, where will I eat, when should I leave to catch my return flight, and on and on. Since I apparently love to worry, I’ve had to come up with a way to deal with these irrational thoughts.

I’d love to switch off the worrying part of my brain since it causes me so much stress and sleep loss. Rationally I realize that nothing to significant will happen, certainly not life-changing, but I still worry about a ton of little things. It actually frustrates me that my emotional side has so much sway over my rational side. I wish there were exercises I could do that would eliminate this issue, but so far I’ve not found that magic switch. So instead I’m forced to deal with the issue and learn how to live with it.

So when these kinds of situations occur I’ve created my “One Step at a Time” methodology. It isn’t anything amazing or spectacular, but it helps me to concentrate on the problem at hand and not fret about what I cannot control. All I do is only focus on the very next task in the chain. For instance, I focus on getting on the plane and taking off. Once that step is complete, I focus on getting from the airport to the car rental place. From there it is the hotel and checking in. I do not think about the next step until the previous one is completed.

By compartmentalizing the process I save myself the stress from making up scenarios and how I will deal with them. Of course 99% of the scenarios my brain imagines never occur so spending energy dealing with the stress I create for myself is a waste. By keeping my focus on what is next, I devote my energy to something that will happen.

I realize this is probably not a life-changing epiphany to most people, but I have noted on multiple occasions that it helps me out during multi-step problems. Especially problems where things outside of my control can rear their head. So take things step by step and help yourself stop worrying.