What are the chances, according to the law of averages, that this event I am worrying about will ever occur?
Ninety-nine percent of the things you worry about will never happen. You could probably eliminate nine tenth of your worries if you would stop fretting and use your time to discover whether, by the law of averages, there was any real justification to your worries.
Mrs Herbert H. Salinger said, "Before I learned to conquer worry, I lived through eleven years of self-made hell. I was irritable and hot-tempered. I lived under terrific tension. I would take the bus every week from my home in San Mateo to shop in San Francisco. But even while shopping, I worried myself into a dither: maybe i had left the electric iron connected on the ironing board. Maybe the house had caught fire. Maybe the maid had run off and left the children. Maybe they had been out with their bicycles and been killed by a car. In the midst of my shopping, I would often worry myself into a cold perspiration and rush out and take the bus home to see if everything was all right."
It has been said that nearly all of our worries and unhappiness come from our imagination not from reality. Jim Grant, the owner of James A. Grant Distributing Company of New York City told a story. He ordered from ten to fifteen carloads of Florida oranges and grapefruits at a time. He use to torture himself with such thoughts as: what if there is a train wreck? What if my fruit is strewn all over the countryside? What if a bridge collapses as my cars are going across it? Of course, the fruit was insured; but he fears that if he didn't deliver his fruit on time, he might risk the loss of his market. He worried so much that he feared he had stomach ulcers and went to a doctor. The doctor told him there was nothing wrong with him except jumpy nerves. "I saw the light then," he said, "and began to ask myself questions. I said to myself: 'look here, Jim Grant, how many fruit cars have you handled over the years?' The answer was: 'About twenty-five thousand.' Then i asked myself: 'How many of those cars were ever wrecked?' The answer was: 'Oh- maybe five.' Then I said to myself: 'Only five- out of twenty five thousand?' Do you know what that means? A ratio of five thousand to one! In other words, by the law of average, based on experience, the chances are five thousand to one against one of your cars ever being wrecked. So what are you worried about?"
"Then I said to myself: 'Well, a bridge may collapse!' Then I asked myself: 'How many cars have you actually lost from a bridge collapsing?' The answer was- 'None.' Then I said to myself: 'Aren't you a fool; to be worrying yourself into stomach ulcers over a bridge which has never yet collapsed, and over a railroad wreck when the chances are five thousand to one against it?'
When I looked at it that way, I felt pretty silly. I decided then and there to let the law of average do the worrying for me- and I have not been troubled with my 'stomach ulcer' since!"
You will love these videos👉Check them out👇https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9OSsMGcs0bgGCrNrq8U4g
Mrs Herbert H. Salinger said, "Before I learned to conquer worry, I lived through eleven years of self-made hell. I was irritable and hot-tempered. I lived under terrific tension. I would take the bus every week from my home in San Mateo to shop in San Francisco. But even while shopping, I worried myself into a dither: maybe i had left the electric iron connected on the ironing board. Maybe the house had caught fire. Maybe the maid had run off and left the children. Maybe they had been out with their bicycles and been killed by a car. In the midst of my shopping, I would often worry myself into a cold perspiration and rush out and take the bus home to see if everything was all right."
It has been said that nearly all of our worries and unhappiness come from our imagination not from reality. Jim Grant, the owner of James A. Grant Distributing Company of New York City told a story. He ordered from ten to fifteen carloads of Florida oranges and grapefruits at a time. He use to torture himself with such thoughts as: what if there is a train wreck? What if my fruit is strewn all over the countryside? What if a bridge collapses as my cars are going across it? Of course, the fruit was insured; but he fears that if he didn't deliver his fruit on time, he might risk the loss of his market. He worried so much that he feared he had stomach ulcers and went to a doctor. The doctor told him there was nothing wrong with him except jumpy nerves. "I saw the light then," he said, "and began to ask myself questions. I said to myself: 'look here, Jim Grant, how many fruit cars have you handled over the years?' The answer was: 'About twenty-five thousand.' Then i asked myself: 'How many of those cars were ever wrecked?' The answer was: 'Oh- maybe five.' Then I said to myself: 'Only five- out of twenty five thousand?' Do you know what that means? A ratio of five thousand to one! In other words, by the law of average, based on experience, the chances are five thousand to one against one of your cars ever being wrecked. So what are you worried about?"
"Then I said to myself: 'Well, a bridge may collapse!' Then I asked myself: 'How many cars have you actually lost from a bridge collapsing?' The answer was- 'None.' Then I said to myself: 'Aren't you a fool; to be worrying yourself into stomach ulcers over a bridge which has never yet collapsed, and over a railroad wreck when the chances are five thousand to one against it?'
When I looked at it that way, I felt pretty silly. I decided then and there to let the law of average do the worrying for me- and I have not been troubled with my 'stomach ulcer' since!"
You will love these videos👉Check them out👇https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9OSsMGcs0bgGCrNrq8U4g
Comments
Post a Comment