Book: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Part One
Chapter 1: Live in day-tight compartments

1. Shut the iron doors on the past and the future. Live in Day-tight compartments.
Ask yourself these questions, and write down the answers

Q1. Do I tend to put off living the present in order to worry about the future, or yearn for some
“magical rose garden over the horizon”?

Q2. Do I sometimes embitter the present by regretting things that happened in the past that are
over and done with?

Q3. Do I get up in the morning determined to “Seize the day” to get the outmost out of these
twenty-four hours?

Q4. Can I get more out of life by “living in day-tight compartments”?

Q5. When shall I start to do this? Next week? Tomorrow? Today?

Chapter 2: Magic Formula for Solving Worrying Situations

2. Anti-worrying technique: WORST SCENARIO

Step 1: Ask yourself, ‘What is the worst that can possibly happen’?
Analyze the situation fearlessly and honestly and figure out is the worst that could possibly happen
as a result of that failure.

Step 2: Prepare to accept it if you have to.

After figuring out what was the worst that could possibly happen, reconcile you to accept it, if
necessary.

Step 3: Devote time and energy trying to improve upon the worst which you have already accepted
mentally.

“I probably would never have been able to do this if I had kept on worrying, because one of the
worst features about worrying is that is destroys our ability to concentrate. When we worry, our
minds jump here and there and everywhere, and we lose all power of decision. However, when we
force ourselves to face the worst and accept it mentally, we then eliminate all those vague
imaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able to concentrate on our problem.”

Step 3: Then calmly proceed to improve on the worst.

Part One in a Nutshell

Rule 1: If you want to avoid worry, do what Sir William Osier did: Live in “day tight compartments”.
Don’t stew about the future. Just live each day until bedtime.

Rule 2: The next time Trouble (with capital T) comes gunning for you and backs you up in a corner,
try the magic formula of Willis H. Carrier:
a. Ask yourself. “What is the worst that can possibly happen if I can’t solve my problem?”
b. Prepare yourself mentally to accept the worst if necessary
c. Then calmly try to improve upon de worst-which you have already mentally agreed to accept

Rule 3: Remind yourself of the exorbitant price you can pay for worry in terms of your health.
“Business men who do not know how to fight worry die young.”

Part Two: Basic Techniques in Analyzing Worry

Chapter 4: How to Analyze and Solve Worry Problems

“We have to keep our emotions out of thinking”

4. Solving Problems

Case of Galen Litchfield:

Step 1: Writing down precisely what I am worrying about

Step 2: Writing down what I can do about it

Step 3: Deciding what to do

Step 4: Starting immediately to carry out that decision

“It is the failure to arrive at a fixed purpose, the inability to stop going round and round in
maddening circles, that drives men to nervous breakdowns and living hells.”

“There comes a time when we must decide and act and never look back”

Chapter 5: How to eliminate fifty percent of your business worries

5. How to eliminate business problems

Q1: What is the problem?

Q2: What is the cause of the problem?

Q3: What are all possible solutions to the problem?

Q4: What solution do you suggest?

Part Two in a Nutshell:

Rule 1: Get the facts. Remember that Dean Hawkes of Columbia University said that “half the worry
in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on
which to base a decision”

Rule 2: After carefully weighing all the facts, come to a decision.

Rule 3: Once a decision is carefully reached, act! Get busy carrying out your decision- and dismiss all
anxiety about the outcome.

Rule 4: When you, or any of your associates are tempted to worry about a problem, write out and
answer the following questions:
a. What is the problem?
b. What is the cause of the problem?
c. What are all possible solutions?
d. What is the best solution?

Magic requirement: “Deep, driving desire to learn, a vigorous determination to stop worrying and
start living. Develop the urge by constantly reminding yourself of how important these principles are
to you”

“My peace of mind, my happiness, my health, and perhaps even my income will, in the long run,
depend largely on applying the old obvious, and eternal truths taught in this book.”

“Don’t do the natural thing, the impulsive thing. That is usually wrong.”

How to get most out of this book in a nutshell:

1. Develop a deep, driving desire to master the principles of conquering worry.

2. Read each chapter twice before going to the next one.
3. As you read, stop frequently to ask yourself how you can apply each suggestion.
4. Underscore each important idea.
5. Review this book each month.
6. Apply these principles at every opportunity. Use this volume as a working handbook to help you
solve your daily problems.
7. Make a lively game put of your learning by offering some friend a shilling every time he catches
you violating one of these principles.
8. Check up each week on the progress you are making. Ask yourself what mistakes you have made,
what improvement, what lessons you have learned for the future.
9. Keep a diary in the back of this book showing how and when you have applied these principles.

Part Three - How to break the worry habit before it breaks you

Chapter 6 - How to crowd worry out of your mind

6. Break the worry habit:

Rule 1: Keep busy. The worried person must lose himself in action, lest be wither in despair.

Chapter 7: Don’t Let the beetles get you down